


Shards of Shattered Glass Rewrite

by LilGray1326



Series: Shattered Glass Trilogy_Rewrite [1]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-08-01 04:37:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 34,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16277948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilGray1326/pseuds/LilGray1326
Summary: What if when Jeremy killed Kol, he never made it to The Otherside?  What if instead, he stuck around in one form or another to seek vengeance on all those who have wronged him.  This is the story of what could have happened if Kol wasn't as dead and gone as everyone had thought.  Rated M for violence, bad language, and sexy bits.  Part one of a Trilogy.





	1. Not Worth the Calories

**Author's Note:**

> Purveyors of Plot Bunnies: Luner Kat and pyrodaemon  
> Betas/Pre-Readers: laurenj15, brooklyn4, Luner Kat, pyrodaemon  
> Banners by: Lilly Gray  
> Words: 33,374  
> Prompt/inspiration: this story is inspired by the fantastic story 'A Shadow in the Mirror' by Cuinawen (https://cuinawen.wordpress.com/one-shots/a-shadow-in-the-mirror/), which was written for Bertie Botts’ 2014 'Every Flavor Spook Fest' answering the prompt: I woke up to hear knocking on glass. At first, I thought it was the window until I heard it come from the mirror again.  
> Status: Complete  
> Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of its characters or locations. They belong to Alloy Entertainment, Ltd., Bonanza Productions Inc., Warner Bros. Television, CBS Television Studios, Kevin Williamson, and Julie Plec, et al. I'm making no money from this story, which I wrote just for fun, and I intend no copyright infringement.  
> Author's Notes: First things first, I rewrote this story in a single PoV. The narrator is now Sheila Bennett. You'll understand why she's the narrator when you read the second story in the trilogy. Either way, this change should make following along much easier than in the previous version which jumped around from PoV to PoV.  
> This story is NOT a crossover, and it starts in The Vampire Diaries Season 04, Episode 12, 'A View to a Kill.' I think it'll be obvious where in the episode it is picking up so I won't go into details here. However, I had some trouble figuring out a date for the events in the episode. After making my own up and then getting a better handle on the show's timeline, I changed it several times. Therefore, this story is beginning on Thursday, December 02, 2010, just after 9:00 p.m. I realize that this date is not canon, but I had rearranged and added things before I realized that I still didn't have the proper timeline. I decided not to further change it because several chapters would need to be deleted if I corrected the timeline. I happen to be very fond of the chapters in question, so if you'd be so kind, please suspend disbelief and overlook my screwy timeline. Thank you.  
> The relationships in this story are mostly Damon/Elena with a very teeny tiny bit of Tyler/Caroline and Klaus/Caroline
> 
> Author's Note:  I have directly quoted quite a bit of this first chapter from the show… it can't be helped.  I do not claim ownership of any of the dialog from the show.  Many thanks to the Vampire Diaries Wiki Page for the transcripts to the necessary episodes, which made my life much easier.
> 
> Also, if you read Shards of Shattered Glass before October 12, 2018, you should know that there have been several changes made to this first story in the trilogy.  One of those changes is that the whole story is now in one PoV.  Sheila Bennett is now the sole narrator of the entire trilogy.  I hope this will make the stories easier to follow. 
> 
> Happy reading.

 

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**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Chapter 001**

**Not Even Worth the Calories**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Sheila Bennett's PoV**

**Thursday, December 02, 2010, just after 9:00 p.m.**

**Outside the Gilbert's House**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

While Niklaus Mikaelson marches up to the Gilbert's house, his brother Kol's scream rips through the otherwise silent night.  Rushing to the front door, which looks like someone kicked it in, we both watch helplessly while Elena Gilbert grabs the White Oak Stake out of Kol's inside jacket pocket and tosses it to her brother before she says, "Now Jeremy."

Despite the fact no one here can hear me or even knows I'm watching, I shout, "Kol, watch out!"

Niklaus, on the other hand, can't get his mouth to work at all, and he chokes on a scream when Jeremy stakes Kol who screams again with wide eyes before he bursts into flames. 

Kol's cries of pain while he lurches and staggers about the Gilbert's kitchen echo in my ears and the sound will be forever ingrained in my mind.  With jerky motions, I wipe at the hot tears pouring down my face.

No one can see me because I'm just a ghost, but when Kol finally drops to the floor dead, Jeremy, the teenage boy Kol once called his friend, looks up and sees Niklaus standing in the doorway.  In quick order, Elena follows her brother's line of sight and sees the heavily breathing original too. 

Unlike me, who once again wipes at my wet eyes, Niklaus resists the urge to rub at the tears he can feel building in his eyes.  Instead, he asks an obvious question, "What did you do?"

Niklaus' looks at Elena and thinks, 'She really is more trouble than she's worth.'

She frowns and says, "We didn't have a choice.  He was trying to cut off Jeremy's arm!"

My head shakes while Niklaus' fists clench at his sides.  His nostrils flare a moment later before he bares his clenched teeth and tells Elena, "Lies!  He never would have gotten inside if you hadn't set a trap for him."

Elena looks sideways at her brother who shrugs slightly, so the selfish girl says, "You said you were going to put him down too."

I know what Niklaus said, but he was clear that he planned to dagger his brother, not murder him, so he breathes heavily while his eyes narrow, and through still clenched teeth he tells her, "I was going to make him suffer on my terms!" 

The hybrid tries unsuccessfully to step through the doorway, so instead, he tells them, "I'm going to burn this house to the ground.  And then, when you try to flee for your lives, I'll kill you both without blinking."

Jeremy glares at Niklaus while he and his sister walk toward the open door and then with a poor imitation of Niklaus' own sneer Jeremy says, "You kill us, you'll never get to The Cure.  You'll _never_ be able to make any more hybrids."

My eyes widen at that proclamation.  Does Jeremy really think Niklaus gives a damn about his hybrids when he just watched his baby brother burn to death?  One thing I know from my time watching the Mikaelson's and my granddaughter and her friends while on The Otherside is that every single last original loves his or her siblings more than life itself.  Not even one of them would allow permanent harm to come to any of them without putting up the fight of their lives in defense of their sibling.  The fact that the two Gilbert children just murdered their second original, in cold blood no less, means that Niklaus and his surviving siblings will stop at nothing until Elena and her brother are as dead as Kol is now.

I can clearly hear Niklaus' thoughts so putting those facts aside for a moment there is also the fact that he wants The Cure so it can't be used against him.  He couldn't care less about making more hybrids, in fact, he thinks his hybrid making attempts have caused far more trouble than the creatures are worth.  Therefore, he wants nothing more right now than to watch the life drain from both Gilbert children's eyes while he kills them. 

Niklaus makes his position and opinion clear and tells the two teens, "You really think I care for an instant about my bloody hybrids?  I want The Cure so I can destroy it.  I would've killed you all the second we dug it up, but now I'm just going to watch you burn instead."

After the last word passes Niklaus' lips searing pain rips through his body causing him to cry out and fall to his knees.  His brain is on fire, and his bones feel like someone dipped them in molten lava, or at least that's what it feels like to him.  Through blurry eyes he watches my granddaughter walk past him and into the house.

The pain stops when Bonnie's safely inside, but she says to her ex-boyfriend, "Invite him in."

The Gilberts both look at each other with questions written all over their faces.  After tossing looks back and forth for a minute, my baby girl orders Jeremy, "Do it!"

Niklaus rises to his feet, and I hope my grandbaby knows what she's doing because a moment later the two siblings shrug at each other and the last living Gilbert says, "Come in."

Niklaus doesn't get a chance to charge in because he's magickally pulled inside and held immobile.  Struggling against the invisible bonds he barely manages to move a muscle before Bonnie yells, "Living Room.  Go!"

Niklaus and I both watch while the threesome runs through the living room into the kitchen just before his bonds evaporate, so we follow them through the living room and into the kitchen, but something keeps him from being able to enter the kitchen.  He punches at the air only to have his downward trajectory stopped by an invisible barrier.

Jeremy leans down and pulls the White Oak Stake out of Kol's burnt body.  Is he going to try to kill Niklaus too?  Apparently not, because he and the doppelgänger run to the door, so Niklaus pounds on the barrier again before telling my smirking grandbaby, "Witch, you can't do this to me."

Bonnie's smirk deepens before she looks him right in the eyes and tells him, "You have no idea what I can do now."

Then she turns and leaves while the original yells, "I will hunt all of you to your end!  Do you hear me?  Do you!?"

No one replies because they're already gone, so the hybrid bangs on the barrier for a minute or two then he looks around and upturns the coffee table in a fit of rage before sighing and sitting down on one of the couches.  He studiously avoids looking at Kol's still smoldering body. 

Niklaus is determined to get them all for this.  _'Just wait until I get my hands around their bloody necks.  First, they killed Finn in cold blood.  We let that slide because he was trying to kill us, but now they've murdered our baby brother in cold blood too.  I'll tear their heads clear from their shoulders.  I'll destroy every single last one of that bloody group.'_  

A few minutes later, a tapping noise distracts us both, so we get up, and Niklaus looks around to make sure he's as alone as he thinks he is.  He finds no one but discovers that his prison includes the hallway though he still can't get into the kitchen or reach his brother's body.

Satisfied that he really is alone, the weary Niklaus sits back down on the couch placing his elbows on his bent knees and waits to find out when they'll release him and what they plan to try to do to him _before_ they release him.

That tapping noise reaches our ears again, so the hybrid quirks an eyebrow and gets up walking into the hallway where we're both confident the sound is coming from.  Standing there at the mouth of the hall he just listens for a minute when the tapping happens again.  We follow it to the mirror on the wall, and when we gaze into it, we both gasp because Kol is staring back at us.  Niklaus turns to look behind himself, but no one is there, so he looks back at the glass and reaches out to touch it while he asks, "Kol, what—"

That's all he gets out because when he touches the glass, his baby brother pushes with all his might forcing himself into his sibling's body. 

Don't ask me what made Kol try it because he had no clue if it would work.  He just knew he _had_ to try.  It does work though, so the recently deceased vampire finds himself looking into the mirror at his older brother glaring back at him, so Kol smiles and tells Niklaus, "Ah, that's much better.  Because you were willing to kill them all on my behalf, I'm willing to overlook our differences enough that I won't end you, but I _am_ going to use your body to wreak havoc on all of them and their little friends.  I hope you don't mind."

The hybrid's shoulders sag, so Kol walks into the living room and tests the bounds of his prison before sitting on the couch and waiting to see what happens next.

Kol doesn't sit for long before he stands back up and begins pacing.  He's never been particularly good with boredom, and right now he's incredibly bored.  He wants to wreak havoc and mess with some heads, _'maybe kill a number of the bumbling idiots,'_ and he hopes to do it before Elena and her friends manage to raise Silas and destroy the world. 

He was deadly serious when he said he likes the world the way it is, and he thinks, _'Those idiots are risking everything just to turn poor little Elena Gilbert back into a weak human.'_

Kol has been standing in the Gilbert's living room pacing for hours and staring at his own corpse.  Talk about disturbing looking at his own dead body from the body of his older brother while the sun rises over the horizon.  He's dead and not vampire dead, but some sort of body-snatching dead.  He thinks, _'Oh, well, it should serve my purposes, and I might be able to finagle a way to come back permanently when this is all over.'_

Just then Tyler shows up and enters the premises.  Kol wonders, _'What is his name again, Tanner?  Taylor?  No that's not right.  Oh right, Tyler.'_

Tyler sneers and says, "Morning, Sunshine.  You look pathetic."

Kol thinks, _'Well, excuse me, but I just spent all night staring at my burnt corpse.'_   Still, he has a part to play, and if he's going to pull his plans off properly he needs to play it right, so he tells Tyler, "Only until Bonnie's spell locking me in here wears off."  The original pauses and then smirks while he says, "Then I'll look different.  Angrier, perhaps.  Or I won't look like anything because I'll have gouged your eyeballs from their sockets."

I can't help it.  I laugh at that last part.  It's so like Kol and Niklaus both to say something like that. 

Tyler leans against the wall and frowns but then says, "My friends will be back with The Cure by then, so I could shove it down your throat and make you mortal."

Narrowing his eyes, Kol asks him, "I'm an original.  What makes you think my entire vampire bloodline won't be cured along with me?  I.e., you."

Pushing off the wall, Tyler smiles pleased with himself before he says, "You know what I think?  I think that's impossible.  I think the moment you stop being a vampire, our whole blood connection to you is broken, and your sire-line ceases to exist.  So, whatever happens to you, happens only to you, which means I can kill your ass and no one else has to die.  Although I am still debating just how to do it."

Kol vamps towards the teen but pulls up short when he runs into the barrier, so the original smirks and uses the bit of information he got from his older brother and tells Tyler, "I recommend drowning.  There's nothing quite like the feeling of someone fighting for something as basic as human breath.  And let me tell you, despite the enormous amount of alcohol running through her veins your mother was a fighter."

Tyler glares at him while Kol rocks back on his heels with a pleased smile knowing he hit his intended mark.

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Several Hours Later**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

Tyler has been just standing staring at Kol inside Niklaus' body for hours when the original hears his brother's _'pretty little thing'_ flit in through the back door, but she obviously pulls up short when she sees Tyler.  The frown in Caroline's voice is obvious when she asks, "You're still here?  What are you doing?"

Tyler takes a glass out of one of the kitchen cabinets and grins before he says, "Gloating."

He pours himself a drink while Kol emerges from the living room.  Smiling in what he hopes is a good approximation of how his brother smiles at her he says, "Hello, Caroline."

Looking over her shoulder at him for a good ten seconds she glares and then looks back at Tyler before walking and placing her hands on the counter, telling her boyfriend, "Come home.  Don't stoop to his level."

Tyler frowns and sighs, "He destroyed my life." 

Kol thinks, _'I haven't even begun to destroy his life, but when I'm done the life he knew will be but a distant memory he will only be able to wish he could return to.'_  

Tyler lifts his glass as though he's toasting Kol and says, "I plan on being present for every second of his misery until I can kill him myself."

The only way they might best Kol while he's in his brother's body is with my granddaughter's help.  None of them are strong enough to overpower the hybrid and force The Cure on him.  So even if he is correct, _Tyler_ won't be doing much killing. 

Caroline frowns back and then looks at Kol over her shoulder again before she says, "Fine.  You can gloat and multitask.  This place is a disaster.  Starting with a horrific burnt corpse."

She heads to a cabinet to the right of the kitchen and bends down taking out a tablecloth.  She hands one end to Tyler, and they use it to cover Kol's corpse.  On the one hand, not having to look at his burnt body is a blessing.  On the other hand, Kol wants to see it to keep his anger at his brother fresh because while he was honest when he told Niklaus that he won't end him, he does plan to cause his brother pain as payment for his role in Kol's demise.

The original frowns and tells the cheerleader, "Tyler's mother is dead, so am—is my brother.  We're even."  Neither of the teens seems to notice his little slip before Tyler rolls his eyes and sighs and when Caroline looks at Kol with a frown on her face, Kol tells her, "Call Bonnie.  Get her to let me out of here."

Caroline shakes her head with her hands on her hips before she says, "I will never, _ever_ , help you."

Again, using his knowledge gleaned from conversations with his brother Kol tells her, "How quickly you forget the part where I saved Tyler from the misery of being a werewolf.  Or the night your mother invited me into her home to save the life of her precious daughter."

Caroline crosses her arms and frowns before she tells the original, "How delusional are you?  You killed his _mother_.  And let's not forget that we're standing in a house where Elena's aunt Jenna used to live."

She begins walking closer to the revenge-hungry Kol.  Despite no one being able to see or hear me I want to shout a warning to the girl that was like another granddaughter to me while Kol thinks, _'Am I actually going to get my chance to make my first down payment to pay back Nik and the Gilberts all in one go?'_  The clueless Caroline stops right in front of Kol a mere foot or so away from him with only an invisible barrier separating them before she asks, "Or did you think that your charm would make us forget how you killed her, too?"  Bringing her clasped hands to her mouth, she shakes her head and tells him, "You know what?  No.  I am not going to engage in this.  You are not even worth the calories I burn talking to you."

Kol vamp speeds over to the lamp to his right and breaks it from its base before quickly using it to skewer Caroline with it.

Tyler shouts, "No," while Kol uses his makeshift stake to pull the stunned Caroline past the barrier and then he uses the fact that he's in his brother's hybrid body to his advantage by biting poor little Caroline and then dropping her carelessly to the floor at his feet.

Looking up into Tyler's shocked and, yes, scared eyes Kol smiles and tells him, "Now, that was definitely worth the calories."

Kol continues to smile while he watches Caroline crawl towards her boyfriend from the corner of his eye.  'I'll allow her to join the annoying hybrid on the other side of the barrier because the only way to save her is Niklaus', well, now my, blood.'

She'll have to cross the barrier again if they can convince the usually vindictive Kol to cure her, which for the record he has no intention of healing her.  Niklaus genuinely cares for Caroline, so Kol considers this payback to his brother for all the times the older man daggered him, or if that's not enough of a reason, it could also be payback for planning to dagger Kol again just to get The Cure.

Caroline is crying and repeating, "Oh my God, Oh my God," over and over.  When she reaches Tyler, he helps her stand and then leads her to another couch.

Tyler looks at her and tells her, "Hey, hey.  Look at me.  Look at me."  When she does, he emphatically states, "I can fix this."

With tears in her eyes, she shakes her head causing her blonde curls to bounce around her tear-streaked face while she asks the obvious question, "How?  The only thing that can heal me is his blood!  Oh my god..."

The usually hot-headed Tyler continues to look her in the eye while he says, "I know.  I'll fix it."

She just nods so he stands and turns to face Kol before telling him what we all already know, what the original is counting on, "She'll die if you don't heal her."

Nodding Kol tells him, "Okay," before he bites into his wrist and holds his arms up and out towards them palms up and tells him, "Beg me to save her life."

Tyler frowns and takes a step closer before he asks, "Is this what you want?  To remind me that I'm powerless against you?"  Kol smiles because so far as he's concerned, it's a good start.  His smile widens when Tyler continues the thought, "Fine.  You win.  I'm nothing.  Now save her.  _Please._ "

Kol smirks and leans towards the teen with his hand to his ear before he tells Tyler, "I'm sorry, Mate, I didn't quite catch that."

He sighs but takes another step closer to Kol and says, "Please."

Kol's smirk turns into a smile while he leads Tyler, "Please…"

Frowning he tells the original what he knows he wants to hear, "Please save her life."

Kol's borrowed smile fades a little before he tells Tyler, "See, now I think you're just telling me what I want to hear."  He smiles a not nice smile and continues, "I mean, you did call me pathetic earlier, and wouldn't it be more pathetic of me to help now, knowing that hours ago, you announced your plan to kill me in a manner in which you're still debating because you want it to have a certain amount of flair?"  When Kol sees him frown, he tells Tyler, "I'm just asking."

Tyler sighs yet again but tells Kol, "I'll be your slave again.  I'll do whatever you want.  Just help her."

If he were his older brother that might sway him, but Kol is not Niklaus and although the two younger teens don't and can't know that Kol decides to stick to his course and tells Tyler with some satisfaction creeping into his voice, "No."

Tyler's face falls in a manner that is wholly pleasing to Kol, but then in a flat voice with moist, glassy eyes Caroline says, "Get me out of here.  I can't even look at him."

Kol watches dispassionately when Tyler immediately turns and helps his girlfriend up and together, with Caroline leaning heavily against him, they walk through the door and out of the house.

Once again Kol is all alone with his burnt body as his only company.  Although at least this time it's covered up, so he doesn't have to stare at his own charred remains all day long.

I have no idea how many hours pass while I just sit and watch the ever impatient Kol, whom I used to call my friend, pace back and forth within the confines of his prison, but the sun has risen twice and set once and is now once again making its way towards the Western Horizon.  Thankfully the original sat down recently on one of the couches in the Gilbert's living room after having finally given up on wearing a rut into the wood floor.  He rubs the back of his neck while his eyes bounce around the room.  His immense and continuously increasing boredom is quickly turning into agitation, so I send up a prayer, "Please, God, end Kol's boredom soon, before he decides to get up and tear apart every inch of the house he can reach just for something to do."

As soon as the last word crosses my lips I hear someone approaching and send up a second prayer, "Please, Lord, don't let anyone die."

Kol smiles when Tyler returns.  He stands and turns to face Tyler while the baby hybrid lays Caroline down on the floor just inside the barrier and then quickly moves back outside of it before he tells Kol, "You want to be in control, Klaus?  Here, now you get to be in control of her life.  If you want her to die, fine, but then you can sit here and watch her die yourself."

Tyler promptly leaves probably figuring that The Original Hybrid's soft spot for young Caroline will allow her to convince him to save her.  Too bad for them he's not Niklaus.  I sigh because my second prayer is about to go unfulfilled.

Kol approaches the sweating and uncharacteristically disheveled Caroline and squats down beside her eying her angry looking bite before telling her, "Nothing personal, Darling.  If I cure you, that means victory for young Tyler.  Don't worry, it won't be long now."

He isn't completely heartless, so Kol decides to at least give Caroline a little comfort, so he picks her up and deposits her on the couch then he moves to lean against the wall to watch her die.  She lays there gasping for breath.  While her gasps grow more pronounced, she tells him, "If you don't feed me your blood, I'll die."

Without looking at her, Kol nods just slightly and tells her, "Then you'll die, and Tyler will have learned his lesson the hard way."

Caroline, whose vision is slightly blurry due to the poison making its way through her system, frowns before she gasps again then asks, "How could you do this to him?  To his mom?  To me?"

Kol smiles that not nice smile again and tells her, "I'm a thousand years old.  Call it boredom."

Still frowning and gasping for air she really doesn't need she says, "I don't believe you."

The original smiles wider and finally looks at her before telling her, "Fine, then maybe it's because I'm pure evil, and I can't help myself."

The usually perky Caroline shakes her head slightly and tells him, "It's because you were hurt, which means that there is a part of you that is human."

Kol thinks, _'I was hurt?  So far as she knows her friends killed two of my brothers and she says I was hurt as though they hurt my feelings by not inviting me to a party everyone else was invited to.'_   He continues the thought, _'I have to hand it to her though, she is far more manipulative than I gave her credit for.'_   Still because he's trapped here and bored he asks her, "How could you possibly think that?"

Frowning she tells him, "Because I've seen it.  Because... I've caught myself wishing that I could forget all the horrible things that you've done."

Her thoughts clearly show me that she's genuine and sincere, but Kol frowns because he's impressed by the lengths he thinks she would go to in order to save herself, yet he asks, "But you can't, can you, Darling?"

Caroline narrows her eyes, and her frown deepens while she obviously thinks something over then she says, "That's the second time today that you've called me Darling.  In all the months I've known you, you've called me Luv a million times, but you've never called me Darling."

Kol smiles while he watches the realization blossom in her eyes, "But Elena said Kol uses that word the same way Klaus uses Luv.  You're not Klaus.  You're Kol.  How?" She tries to sit up and bites out a sharp, "What have you done to Klaus?"

While she falls back to a lying down position due to her body's weakened state Kol chuckles and tells her, "Darling, don't act as though you actually care what happens to my dear ole brother.  You only act as though you care when it serves your purposes like just now you admitting to wishing you could forget the things he's done implying that you have feelings for him that you also wish you could forget.  All just so he would give you his blood and save you from certain death.  Well, the joke is on you, Darling, because I'm not Nik and despite your obvious non-feelings for him he genuinely cares for you, so I know your death will cause him pain.  Consider it my way of paying him back for all the times he daggered me or even just for the fact that he planned to dagger me yet again.  Never mind that I was merely trying to stop the world from going to Hell."

Kol walks into the hallway and grabs the mirror off the wall being sure not to touch his skin to the glass before bringing it into the living room.  After righting the coffee table, he props the mirror up against the table and then he tells Caroline, "In fact, I think he should watch while you take your dying breath."

Kol smiles while he watches her look in the mirror and do a double take when she realizes Niklaus is staring back at her.  She looks at Kol in Niklaus' body and then at the mirror before she asks, "How?"

The only brother capable of answering frowns and tells her, "I burned up, and then the world went black, and when my consciousness returned I was trapped in the mirror.  I managed to lure Nik to it and then forced myself into his body."

Caroline's blue eyes are wide, but then they narrow in pain before she gasps for more breath and coughs up a bit of blood.  She tries one last time to sway the only person who can save her, "Please…"

Kol smiles his not nice smile again and tells her, "And spoil all my fun?  No, I don't think so.  Enjoy eternity wandering through The Otherside."

A tear slips out of her cerulean eyes.  She gasps one final time and then exhales for the last time before turning grey and desiccating.

Smiling, Kol walks in front of the mirror, and after burning his brother's crestfallen face into his memory for all time, he tells Niklaus, "There, now we're even."

He has a plan to execute, but he doesn't want his brother to know how this all works, so he picks the mirror back up and returns it to its spot on the wall before striding back to the living room and sitting beside Caroline's corpse.  Touching her bare arm, Kol forces himself inside her body, which takes considerably less effort than it did when he took over Niklaus' body, probably because her essence is no longer inside her body.  Apparently, Kol's status as a body snatcher allows him to still be able to see despite his host body's closed blue eyes, so he sees when his brother returns to his body and looks around warily before the hybrid asks, "Kol?"

He doesn't answer, so Niklaus' focus shifts to his dead love lying beside him.  He brushes his hand against her face pushing an errant blonde curl away from her eyes before he says in a low, pained voice, "Oh Luv, I'm sorry.  I never wanted this for you.  If I could have, I would have saved you.  And there's the rub.  The first time in almost 900 years that I allowed myself to care and my feelings for you got you killed by my own venom.  I wish—"

He doesn't finish his wish out loud, but he thinks, _'I wish I could have saved both you **and** my brother.'_  

After he silently finishes his wish Niklaus then just sits staring at his dead love, and Kol waits for the Gilberts to return home so he can jump into his next victim. 

This time I make sure to look at the clock, so I know that just over 18 hours later the now deceased Caroline's phone rings in her jean pocket so Niklaus fishes it out of her pocket and looks at the caller ID.  He frowns then takes a deep breath schooling his features before pushing the send button and putting the phone to his ear.  Despite being very tired, Niklaus says in a sing-song voice, "Caroline's phone.  She's currently unavailable.  May I take a message."

Even though the body Kol's possessing is dead he can hear Elena's slightly panicked voice when she says, "Klaus, what have you done to Caroline?"

The hybrid frowns and tells her, "I didn't do a bloody thing to her, Kol, on the other hand, possessed me and bit her before forcing me to watch while she died."

I want to laugh when Elena says with some force, "Bullshit, we all watched my brother kill Kol, so if my best friend is dead from your bite then it was you who did it, so don't try to pass the blame."  She pauses and then asks, "Did you really kill her?  Is she really dead?"

He can't bring himself to repeat it, so he doesn't answer.  A moment later the doppelgänger says under her breath, "I can't believe I lost two friends in as many hours."

Kol would sit up straight at that if he could, and he smiles to himself when his brother does, in fact, sit up straighter before Niklaus asks, "What other friend did you lose?"

Elena sighs and then admits, "Another member of the Five showed up and fed Bonnie to Silas before feeding him The Cure and killing him."

Wait, what?  My baby girl is dead?  My heart drops, and despite being a spirit, I find it difficult to draw in the breaths I don't really need even while Niklaus stands and he asks, "So Silas and The Cure are no more?"

I can hear the frown in Elena's voice when she says, "Yes to both."

Niklaus smiles a somewhat sad smile but asks with noticeable hope in his voice, "And Bonnie is also no more?"  He doesn't need to sound so happy about that.

My granddaughter's other best friend sounds exceedingly small when she says, "Yes."

The hybrid walks to where the barrier was and waves his hand smiling wider when his hand moves beyond the barrier unhindered.  Smirking he tells his annoying doppelgänger, "Then it's been fun chatting, but I need to go.  People to see, murders to plan, you understand I'm sure."

Then he hangs up on her and drops Caroline's phone onto the coffee table before leaning down and brushing a soft kiss across his dead love's forehead.  He stands up and looks at her for a moment clearly trying to memorize every curve of her desiccated face to make sure he remembers in great clarity the pain that comes with caring.  Then he pulls his eyes away from her prone form, wipes a lone tear from his cheek and then strides purposefully out of the Gilbert's house leaving Kol and me to wait for the cavalry to arrive and discover their friend's body.


	2. Not the Vampire I Knew

****

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Chapter 002**

**Not the Vampire I Knew**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Sunday, December 05, 2010, around 2:00 p.m.**

**Silas' Tomb**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

I'm sitting next to Caroline's prone form in the Gilbert's living room, and then the next second, I'm standing inside what appears to be a tunnel of some sort.  I spot Elena and her friends and follow them further into the ground.  While I watch them lower themselves into a well, I sigh, and then a moment later I'm at the bottom of the well looking up at them coming down the rope.  I don't see Jeremy or my grandbaby anywhere in sight.

When Elena and Stefan arrive at Silas' tomb, they are already too late.  A man is standing over a dead Silas with my granddaughter lying in a crumpled heap a few feet away. 

_'Oh, baby girl.  You never should have gone looking for The Cure, but you just wouldn't listen.  I suppose I should be proud, though, because your stubbornness was completely born of your loyalty to your friends.'_

I'm brought out of my thoughts when the man standing over my granddaughter's body looks at Elena and Stefan and tells them in a heavy Irish accent, "My purpose is complete.  Silas woke, I fed him The Cure, and then I killed him.  The threat The First Immortal posed to the world is no more."

The hunter takes the stake he used on Silas out of the ancient man's desiccated body and rams the lovingly carved piece of wood into his own chest before crumpling to the floor beside my granddaughter's body.  Stefan can already tell my baby girl is dead, but he still walks to her body and bends down to check for a pulse he doesn't find while Elena turns to tend to her brother who is unconscious but still very alive if the sound of his strong and steady heartbeat in Stefan's ears is any indication.

After Jeremy wakes up, he and his sister cry over my precious girl's body and then despite Stefan advising that they leave my baby here, his two companions veto his vote and because he still hopes to win back Elena's love he reluctantly agrees to carry my granddaughter's body out of the cave. 

Stefan thinks with a bit of attitude, _'Never mind how we're going to explain that she's now dead,'_ still, he follows Elena and her brother out of the chamber and then back up out of the well.

Stefan carries Bonnie all the way back to the boat they took here while he avoids looking at anyone but especially Rebekah, and then when they return to the mainland, he carries Bonnie to the Camaro while Rebekah goes her own way. 

Damon drives Elena, Jeremy, and Stefan to the Gilbert's house where the two teens hurry inside hoping to find Niklaus still trapped inside, but Damon and Stefan both already knew Bonnie's death freed the original.  Stefan's green eyes widen, and he gasps for a single breath he doesn't really need when his line of sight lands on Caroline's desiccated corpse lying on one of the couches.  Despite having heard Elena's conversation with Niklaus earlier, he was still holding out some hope that the original was lying about Caroline's death.

Elena is sitting across from Caroline's body rocking herself while she cries in her brother's arms before Damon takes control of the situation and says, "Okay, so Stefan carry Vampire Barbie out to my car.  We need to bury Bonnie, Caroline, _and_ Kol, the sooner, the better.  You can bury them, and I'll stay with Elena and Jeremy until you come back." 

Damon looks at his brother hard for a minute, and a light bulb goes off in Stefan's head.  Damon is considering using The Sire Bond to help Elena deal with all this tragedy.  However, he doesn't want his brother present for it, so when Damon hands Stefan his keys he nods and takes them before he picks up Caroline's body doing his damnedest to ignore Elena's increasing tears while he carries her best friend out to the car.

Stefan puts Caroline in the trunk with my granddaughter's body and then goes back and get Kol's burnt corpse placing it in the trunk too and then getting into the driver's seat he stops and considers _'Where the hell should I bury the Mayor's and the Sheriff's daughters where they won't be found?'_

He decides he needs to bury them somewhere where there is almost no foot traffic and where it'll be less likely that anyone will dig them up.  After thinking for a few minutes, he figures the best place for them is in the woods behind the boarding house, so he drives there.

When we arrive, he takes first Kol, then Bonnie, and then Caroline out of the trunk and carries them to the woods after retrieving a shovel from the shed near the garden.  Then he digs for twenty minutes taking his time while he contemplates all that has happened recently. 

_'We were so close to getting The Cure for Elena, but the chance slipped through our fingers without any of us even knowing until it was too late.'_   He wonders, _'Are Rebekah and Damon right?  Can I not love a vampire Elena?'_

Pausing he stands up straight and then admits to himself, _'As much as I'm loathed to admit it, they're probably right.  I'm in love with human Elena.  And her being a vampire fundamentally changes who she is in ways I can't ignore.'_   He had hoped he could, but he's beginning to see that he can't turn a blind eye to those, glaringly obvious to him, differences.

When the first hole is big enough Stefan places Kol's charred body inside and then covers him up before digging another hole and then setting Bonnie inside it and then covering the last member of my line up with the dirt.  He digs the hole for Caroline next and then leans down picking her up, and that is the last thing he knows because Kol shoves hard and breaks through Stefan's rather weak mental defenses taking over his body with only a little more effort than it took to take over Caroline's dead body.

Kol unceremoniously drops Caroline's body into her grave.  Because he wants to keep her death a secret at least for now so that he can have time to play with his chosen toys and mess up their lives as much as possible he covers her body up with the dirt piled up beside her grave.

Returning the shovel to its resting place in the garden shed he then drives Damon's car back to the Gilbert's house.  When he arrives instead of going inside, he leaves the keys in the ignition and gets out of the car before walking towards the center of town at a slightly faster than human pace.

When traffic picks up, Kol slows to a pace more suitable to humans and then sets about finding his future target.

Kol decides his best course is to head to The Grill and see who's available for a little fun before a spot of violence.  When he arrives, he strides to the bar and compels the Bartender, "I'm obviously over 21 so you will give me a generous portion of Whiskey on the Rocks, on the house, and then you will leave me be until I motion you back over."

The man nods and repeats what Kol said and then puts down the original's full glass in front of him.  Picking it up, he turns to face the rest of the room, and while he lifts his glass to his lips, he spots two girls, one blonde and one brunette, who are probably about 18 years old.  He thinks, _'They'll do nicely.'_  

He grins his borrowed smile at them when they glance at him, and they both smile back.  Turning to the bartender he waves the man back over and then compels him, "Whatever the girl in the red top and the one in the silver dress are drinking send them one on me, and by 'on me' I mean on the house but tell them it's from me."

Kol decides they must, in fact, both be over 21 and not 18 like he initially thought because after the bartender repeats the compulsion to him the man pours their rum and cokes before handing them to the waiter and telling him who to give them to.  When the teenager hands the glasses to the girls, he says the drinks are from Kol so when they look at him, he smiles again and raises his own drink towards them.  They both smile back and raise their glasses before taking a sip.

Waiting a moment, he then saunters over to their table before sitting down across from them.  He grins at them when they smile at him and tells them, "I'm K—Stefan." 

Frowning he thinks, _'Oops, I almost slipped up there, better keep an eye on that.'_

The dark-haired girl in the red top smiles clearly missing his stutter and tells him, "My name is Courtney."

He barely pays attention to _'miss red top's'_ name while he takes a sip then tells the pretty raven-haired Asian girl with the almond-shaped chestnut colored eyes, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Darling."

While he marvels at how weird his usual speech patterns sound coming out in a slightly southern accent, he turns and looks at Courtney's blonde friend and asks, "And who might you be, Darling?"

The flaxen-haired girl in the shimmering silver dress, who is wholly unaware of the danger she and her friend are truly in, smiles widely and says, "I'm Amy."

Kol has already forgotten Courtney's name, instead referring to her as _'the red-shirted girl'_ in his head.  Raising his glass to the smiling Amy, he tells her, "A pleasure."

Amy has sky-blue eyes with creamy porcelain skin which Kol hopes he'll get to taste before the night is over.  Unaware of his thoughts she nods and looks the body snatcher up and down for a minute before lowering her voice and asking, "We don't usually do this, but do you want to get out of here?"

He smiles and thinks, _'So-called respectable women these days are much easier to get into bed than they used to be, and I don't even have to compel them to leave with me.'  S_ till smiling he says, "Lead the way, Darling."

Both women down their drinks and Amy then stands before taking Kol's hand and pulling him to his feet.  He finishes his own drink a little slower than the women did, and then he follows the two young ladies out of the bar allowing Amy to lead him to her car.  I think myself into the back seat of the vehicle while Kol gets into the passenger seat.  He watches her in her sparkling dress while she quickly gets into the driver's seat and starts the car before Courtney in her red blouse and black pencil skirt gets into the back seat.

Ten minutes later we arrive at an apartment building.  After getting out of the car, Kol allows Amy to retake his hand and lead him into the building, which has security cameras trained on the door.  He smiles widely at both cameras and then follows the two girls up three flights of stairs. 

Amy keeps wiping her sweaty hands on the shiny material of her silver dress, and she's shaking a bit, so she drops her keys while she's trying to open her front door. 

Kol smiles to himself and bends down and picks them up telling her, "Allow me."  She just nods, so he unlocks the door and pushes it open.  The two women both walk into the modest apartment before Kol smiles and asks, "Are you going to invite me in, Darling?"

Smiling shyly Amy brushes some of her shoulder-length blonde curls behind her ear and says with a flirty smile, "Please come in."

He thinks, _'Too easy.'_   Still, he grins and follows her inside the slightly small apartment.  Courtney asks, "Do you want something to drink?"

Smiling his trademark lopsided boyish grin, although it feels weird on Stefan's face, Kol tells both women, "In a bit perhaps.  Right now I want other things," and although we both know that Courtney and Amy completely understand what other things he wants we also know neither young woman has a clue that she and her friend will be the vampire's liquid refreshment when the night is through.

Kol walks to Amy who is smiling shyly and brushes his hand across her creamy soft cheek before sliding his hand into her curly blonde hair and wrapping it around his hand using his grip to tilt her head back so he can steal a brutal kiss.  While their tongues clash her arms come up around his shoulders, and she holds on tight.

When Courtney moves to walk past the pair, he reaches out with his free hand and grabs her arm pulling her to him before leaning over and stealing a kiss from her too.

While he kisses Courtney senseless, he uses his free hand to unbutton her crimson blouse and then releases his hold on Amy to slide her friend's silky blood-red shirt off her shoulders to pool on the floor at her feet. 

Amy uses her freedom from Kol's grip to reach behind herself and unzip her sparkly silver dress, which slides down her body to puddle at her feet too.

Not to be outdone Courtney slides her black pencil skirt down her hips and then steps out of it.  The original pulls back from the kiss and looks each of them over in their skimpy bras and panties.  One thing he loves about this new century is the undergarments women have taken to wearing these days.  While he's only seen the garments in stores and on mannequins up to this point, he's admired them when he's walked past the Victoria's Secret shop in the mall.

He thinks, _'Despite how attractive I've thought they were in the past, the garments are much more appealing on live girls than those plastic dolls in the store windows.'_  

Courtney's bra and panties are blood-red lace to match her top and shows little peaks of pinkish brown nipple through the holes in the lace.  Amy's underwear and bra, on the other hand, are silver satin with a black lace overlay.  They both look quite fetching if he does say so, but he thinks they should move these proceedings somewhere more comfortable, so Kol smiles what he hopes is Stefan's version of a seductive smile and asks, "Perhaps there is a more suitable location for us to continue our fun?"

Amy nods and retakes his hand leading him across her living room to a door, which leads to her modest bedroom.  He thinks, _'At least she has a big bed.'_   When she turns back to face Kol in Stefan's body she walks backward until her knees hit the edge of the bed then he walks to her and pushes her shoulders causing her to fall and land on the bed with a giggle.  He pulls off his borrowed shirt and then climbs on the bed kissing up her bare legs until he reaches her panties. 

There is no need to rush and quite frankly this is the first time he's had sex since his wife died in 1702 so he has no desire to hurry.  He takes his time on his way up her legs, and when he reaches the juncture of her thighs, he kisses Amy's mound through the fabric and then moves his lips farther up to kiss her stomach. 

When he reaches her bra, he kisses and licks the tops of her breasts before reaching under her and unsnapping the catch with one hand.  He chuckles to himself and thinks, _'Hmm, much easier to take off than the old garments.'_

When he pulls the fabric off her, he feels lips begin kissing his shoulder and moving along the expanse of his back to his other shoulder.  Reaching behind himself he pulls Courtney around in front of him before removing her brassiere with one hand too. 

Kol is smiling widely and thinks, _'I love these garments, so much easier to remove than petticoats and corsets,'_ though don't get him wrong, he also thinks that corsets have their own appeal but, _'I like the ease with which I can access a woman's more entertaining bits in this day and age.'_

While one hand fondles Amy's breasts his lips descend on her friend's chest.  He kisses the top of each mound and then licks and kisses the globes before reaching her nipples and pulling first one into his mouth with a hard suck and then the other.  Then he switches girls and uses his hands on Courtney while his lips explore Amy's porcelain skin.  A few minutes later, he switches back and then repeats it a few times. 

I want to look away or go back into the living room and leave Kol to his deadly fun, but something has me frozen in place.  I am entirely unable to turn my gaze away from the sight of Kol and the two girls on the bed. 

The women thread their hands through his hair while he mouths each of their breasts and they claw at his shoulders with their free hands when he pinches and twists their nipples with his fingers.  His pinching and twisting become a little harder with each passing second, and then he bites with flat teeth on a nipple causing the girl he's suckling to shriek but fortunately for him he smells both of their arousals getting stronger with each hard twist, pull, and bite. 

Traveling his kisses up to Amy's soft pink mouth he then looks into her sky-blue eyes compelling her, "You will not scream or try to run away though feel free to fight back."  Kol turns to look at Courtney lying beside her friend with wide chocolate eyes and tells her the same thing. 

After both girls' repeat his words back to him Kol allows his vampire face to emerge, which causes them both to gasp before he leans down to Amy's chest and bites taking a small sip and smiling when she cries out in slight pain before he then moves an inch over and bites and then takes another small sip. 

Thirty minutes later, bites cover all over both women's torsos, arms, and legs, and their blood and surprisingly their cum is covering both girls' and Kol's bodies in random smears. 

I still can't force myself to look away, so I'm helpless to do anything but watch when Kol pulls back and stands for a moment before unzipping and dropping his pants.  He reaches down and grips himself before thinking, _'Hmm, not the quality of equipment I had the last time I had sex some 300 years ago, but I suppose it'll suffice for the time being.'_   Despite the fate I know awaits these two innocent women, I can't help but laugh at Kol's disappointed thoughts.

He crawls back onto the bed and lays on top of Amy settling his legs between hers.  He uses his hand to guide his host's, smaller than he would like, manhood to the girl's entrance before pushing in and sighing.  Stefan's equipment may be smaller than Kol's, but he figures at least it still feels almost as good as he remembers.  

The original pulls back and then pushes in while he leans to the side and bites Courtney on her jugular causing her blood to shoot all over him before he gets his mouth over the wound and feeds to his fill, or at least until she has no more blood left to give.

She cums once more just before he feels her life slip away.  I try to close my eyes when she breathes her last breath, but not even that will work.  Something or someone wants me to see every second of Kol's revenge.

He focuses on pounding into Amy and then just as he's about to cum, much sooner than he remembers being normal for him, he bites her porcelain skin, sinking his canines into her jugular sending her over the edge and even more blood spraying all over the two of them.  He lets the blood spurt over himself a few times so that when Stefan comes back into his body, there will be no denying what Kol's done in the younger vampire's body then Kol latches on to Amy's wound and drains her dry as well.  He closes his borrowed green eyes and pounds through his, in his opinion, less than stellar orgasm and then pulls out before rubbing himself all over the bloody messes that are the two girls he just fucked to death.

This Kol is not the vampire I knew while he was daggered and on The Otherside.  This Kol is hellbent on revenge, so his kind, gentle, and repentant personality that was so prevalent when we became friends shortly after I died is practically nonexistent right now.  I wipe away a tear at that thought.


	3. It's Been Fun

****

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Chapter 003**

**It's Been Fun**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Sunday, December 05, 2010, at around 11:15 p.m.**

**Amy's Apartment**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

I say a prayer for the two girls before watching my former friend get up from the bed.  He then heads into the bathroom to survey the damage.  He smiles cruelly at the sight before us in the mirror.  Blood covers Stefan from head to toe.  It's even in his spiky brunette hair.  Kol, whom I used to think was, despite his horrible reputation, a good, decent man thinks, _'Perfect.'_  

Then he decides to try something and looks at himself in the mirror catching his own eyes and tells himself, "After I have left your body, Stefan, you will not dispose of your bloody clothes nor try to hide what I did while in your body.  You will take full responsibility for all of it when presented with the evidence of what I did tonight."  He smiles cruelly with a sparkle in his borrowed hazel eyes when he finds himself repeating what he just said so he's confident the compulsion worked.

Smiling widely at the trouble he's no doubt caused and will continue to create, Kol throws Stefan's clothes back on without cleaning the blood, or cum, off himself and then leaves the apartment.  He goes back out the front door and makes sure to be in clear view of the cameras so they can get nice shots of his bloody borrowed face when he pushes the door open with an equally bloody hand leaving Stefan's nicely defined hand print behind and walks out into the night.

Once he's outside, he heads back to the boarding house where he figures Damon, and perhaps Elena, is getting ready for bed.  When we arrive, Kol smiles one of his patent, not nice smiles because the Camaro is, in fact, sitting in the boarding house's driveway. 

He noisily makes his way inside knowing that his host's older brother, _'nosy fucker that he is,'_ won't be able to stop himself from coming to find out what his baby brother has been up to.  Kol rushes to one of the couches in the living room and sits down doing his best to adopt a forlorn expression.

A moment later Damon comes to the entrance of the room and stops before gazing at his brother for a long minute.  He frowns at all the blood covering Stefan, and when he walks into the room, he also notices but doesn't comment on the scent of cum rolling off the younger man's body every time he moves. 

Damon's blue eyes narrow a moment later when he realizes the blood and cum belong to at least two women.  He still doesn't comment and instead heads to the alcohol cart and pours two glasses of Scotch figuring his brother's infamous and epic guilt is probably already pummeling him. 

Damon hands one rocks glass to the vampire secretly borrowing his baby brother's body before saying, "Here you probably need this if all that blood and cum on you is any indication."

Damon takes a sip from his own glass after Kol nods and takes the drink before sipping at it and waiting for his opportunity.  It comes a minute later when Damon asks, "Do you want to talk about it or should I leave you to be your usually broody self?"

The body snatching original doesn't immediately answer so Damon rests his hand on his brother's shoulder, and his thumb brushes the side of Stefan's neck ever so slightly.

As though a switch flips, Stefan comes back to himself.  It takes a moment for him to realize he's sitting in the boarding house's sitting room with his brother hovering over him and looking at him with a curious narrowing of his eyes while Damon rests his hand on Stefan's shoulder. 

He takes a deep breath, and the scent of human blood and sex overpowers his senses while he blinks a few times and takes another deep breath scenting the blood and cum of what he thinks is at least two humans saturating his pores. 

Stefan looks up at his brother and asks, "Damon, what?  What happened?"

Kol, who is now quite happily inside Damon's body, frowns and shrugs before removing his hand and after pausing to remind himself to use less formal language he tells Stefan, "I don't know, are you telling me you blacked out?  What's the last thing you remember?"

Stefan narrows his green eyes and frowns back while he tries to remember.  "I remember burying Kol and Bonnie and digging the hole for Caroline, but then I don't remember anything."

Kol pauses and wracks his brain for the words he thinks his host would be likely to use and he smiles slightly when he recalls several conversations he's secretly overheard since being undaggered. 

He struggles to keep the smile off his face before he uses the information he's just remembered and says, "Well that's good to know.  Maybe the stress of burying your, what did you call Vampire Barbie, your sober buddy, maybe the stress of the day was just too much for you.  You have to remember that your usual diet makes your emotions harder to ignore.  Clearly, you deviated from your normal dinner, and I hope had some fun while you were at it.  You should go clean up and then lay down.  Maybe some sleep will do you some good."

Stefan wonders, _'Why does he think the fact I can't remember is a good thing?'_  What Kol has said is accurate though so the younger vampire nods anyway and stands before he downs the drink in his hand and places the empty glass on a side table and then walks towards the stairs. 

He makes it to the upstairs hallway before Elena comes out of Damon's bedroom and stares at her ex-boyfriend with watery eyes.  Her muddy brown eyes widen when she notices the blood covering Stefan, and she speeds over to him before asking, "What, what happened to you?"

The overly tired Stefan shakes his head before telling her, "I don't know."

Frowning and brushing her brunette hair over her shoulder she asks with wide, unbelieving eyes, "What do you mean you don't know?  You're covered in human blood.  Whose is it?  It smells like more than one person.  And did you have sex with them?"

Stefan sighs and ignoring Elena's deep frown and his sudden realization that he's quickly falling out of love with her now that she's a vampire he tells her, "I don't know, Elena."

Ever the pushy girl, Elena's frown deepens before she asks with attitude, "How can you not know?  You can't cause that much blood loss without major damage being done so how can you possibly not know whose blood that is?"

Frowning back at her Stefan tells her, "I occasionally black out when I feed on humans.  It's been a while since it happened last, but it does happen on occasion, now if you'll excuse me, I need to clean up."

I can tell from his thoughts that he feels strangely detached while he walks past his now scowling ex-girlfriend into his room and strips before throwing his clothes in the trash.  He considers burning them but then casts the idea aside and just leaves them in the barrel. 

Deeply unsettled he wonders, _'Who did I kill?  Why can't I remember?  It feels different than the other times I've blacked out.  Instead of some lingering feeling of what I've done, it's just a big blank spot in my mind.'_  

His thirst is steadily growing, so he showers quickly and then changes clothes before sneaking out of the house through his bedroom window.  While he walks away from the house, he thinks, _'Maybe some fresh air and perhaps a little more blood will do me some good.'_ I'm not sure what makes him think _more_ blood will help but when I try to follow him, I get outside and then immediately find myself back inside the house.  That happens twice before I give up and go looking for Kol.

 

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Damon's Bathroom in the Salvatore Boarding House**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

 

While the body snatching original I used to call my friend takes a shower washing off the grime of _'Wherever Damon and company went to find The Bloody Cure,'_ he looks in the mirror at Damon's body, which in Kol's humble opinion isn't too shabby.  He thinks, _'Certainly his equipment is more on par with my own than his baby brother's was.'_

The sound of Stefan sneaking out of the house reached Kol's ears about the same time Elena, who's been playing with both Salvatore brothers' hearts, came back into Damon's bedroom from the kitchen where she made herself a sandwich.

There is a heartbeat faster than a vampire's two doors down so that coupled with his scent causes Kol and I both to surmise that Jeremy is also in the house and currently tossing and turning in bed by the sound of it.  The smell of Jeremy's tears tickles Kol's nose while the teen whimpers in his sleep. 

Kol closes his eyes while he rinses the soap off his borrowed body, but his back stiffens, and his lips narrow and thin out while he thinks, _'Good the murdering little brat deserves to suffer before I kill him.'_

Once he's washed off all the soap, the body snatcher turns off the shower and grabs a towel drying himself off quickly, and then he walks into the bedroom buck naked.  Even though both of her best friends died today, Elena can't stop herself from licking her lips while she takes in her current boyfriend's naked form.  Kol chuckles at her response and honestly, despite it not being _his_ body, he still preens a little on principle alone because unlike Stefan Damon isn't a disgrace to all men everywhere.

Elena gets up off the bed where she was sitting in a black men's button-down shirt and walks towards the man she believes is her boyfriend.  For his part, Kol pauses and takes a moment enjoying the sight of her shapely legs before she strokes his borrowed cheek with her soft hand and says, "Make me forget, Damon," and then leans up and kisses him. 

He smiles into the kiss and thinks, _'Hmm, her words mean she'll probably let me fuck her.  It's been a while, over 320 years, since I last fucked another vampire.'_ While he's not in his own body, he's fairly certain Damon won't allow him to be a disappointment.  He continues this thought, _'Now whether little Elena will be a disappointment is another story entirely_ , _but I'll take the chance because even bad sex is worth having.'_

Clearly, he's decided not to worry about his accumulating pile of sins.  I frown at that thought.  My old friend was a devout Christian, and before his death the other day he obeyed God's laws governing sex outside of the marriage bed.  I'm quite confident his anger will eventually fade, and he will deeply regret everything he's been doing the last few days.  However, I know the ancient teen has historically lost his temper or sought out revenge in the heat of the moment, however long that moment might be, and then when it's all over, and he's had a chance to calm himself Kol profoundly regrets his actions and then drowns in his immense guilt. 

I'm brought back out of my reflections on the ton of guilt I think will eventually smother my old friend when he walks Elena back towards the huge bed.  When she hits the edge, he lifts her up and throws her onto the bed.  She giggles briefly then smiles when he climbs onto the bed and begins kissing first her feet and then he moves his way up her legs until he reaches the bottom of her shirt.  Moving up so his face is even with hers he kisses the much younger teen while he works at unbuttoning the buttons of her shirt.  After the third button, the ever eager and impatient Kol just tears the thing apart revealing her smooth slightly olive skin and breasts that while not the best he's ever seen are not anything to be ashamed of either.

I try to look away or move out of the room again but the farthest I can get it is right beside the door of the room.  I can't exit the room, however, and I feel some force making me watch my friend have sex with my granddaughter's best friend.

While Kol leans down and kisses the tops of her breasts and then mouths all over the mounds, her hands come up to his back, and she rakes her nails down his borrowed back drawing blood. 

Apparently, she likes it rough, to which Kol thinks, _'Good to know,'_ so he responds by biting the nipple in his mouth hard which causes her to gasp and say, "Harder Damon."

Obliging her, he bites her nipple harder with his flat teeth, and then he switches to the other side while his hand slides down her nubile body and parts her lips finding copious amounts of moisture waiting for him.

Kol uses his borrowed finger to circle her clit a few times only stopping to flick it before going back to circling it.  Then he uses his index finger and his thumb grabbing hold of the slippery little nub before he twists hard causing Elena to grab hold of her long brown hair and pull while she cums harder than she thinks she ever has.

My wayward friend leans up and kisses Elena all the while getting a perverse pleasure out of the knowledge that she has no clue she's kissing her mortal enemy.  Deciding his pleasure at her lack of knowledge will be even higher when he fucks her he grabs hold of Damon's manhood and positioning it at her entrance he then slams into her causing her to cry out, "God yes!  Harder Damon!"

His pleasure ratchets up every time she calls him Damon and God, I really don't want to watch Kol's sexcapades again or hear in his thoughts how pleased he is that he's secretly fucking his mortal enemy without her being aware of his deception. 

I try to look away once more but still have no luck, so I clearly see his smirk before he tells her, "Whatever you want, Darling," before he pulls out almost all the way and then shoves into her harder than before and sets a pounding rhythm. 

A few minutes later he breaks from kissing her and tells her, "Cum with me, Darling!"

The original pumps in and out of her a few more times barely noticing when she freezes suddenly aware that she may very well be fucking the man she actively conspired to kill and then helped murder in cold blood.  Just as he cums, she asks, "Kol?"

He smirks even more pleased with himself while he watches Elena's eyes widen in horror at her new knowledge.  Mid-orgasm he jumps into her body which given their current activities is easy to do.

Damon freezes above his girlfriend and unknowingly looks at the original in her body for a minute before picking the rhythm back up and despite having just cum he pounds into Kol's borrowed body hard and Kol marvels at the sensations, _'So this is what the women I've slept with felt as I fucked them.'_

Lifting the other vampire's leg around his hip Damon gives them a better angle and the body borrowing Kol thinks, _'Oh My God,'_ just before he cums hard and sees stars burst behind his host's eyelids.

Damon flips them a moment later, and Kol seizes this unique opportunity and sits up on Damon's lap, and with his hands resting on the other man's chest, Kol rides him. 

Kol's borrowed brown eyes are wide open while he thinks, _'Wow, this angle is even better.  He's so very deep.  No wonder women like sex, and particularly this position, even more than I usually do when they're riding me.  This feels amazing.'_  

The coil gets tighter and tighter inside his borrowed stomach and then the two immortals both cum a minute later before Kol collapses spent on top of Damon.  Once he catches Elena's breath, he thinks, _'I was right.  Damon's not a disgrace to all men everywhere, in fact despite this being my first fuck as a woman I think he's quite skilled and coming from me that says something.'_

I can't help but laugh again at Kol's thoughts even when Damon looks down at Kol inside the doppelgänger's body and says, "I, the last thing I remember before cumming the first time is finding my broody brother covered in blood and sex and giving him what I figured was a much-needed stiff drink.  What did I miss?  Did something happen?"

Kol smiles to himself and tells Damon, "No, nothing out of the ordinary happened.  You took a shower and then we had sex."

Damon frowns and says, "Weird, I've never blacked out before."

Rolling off the other man Kol frowns when Damon pulls Elena's body into his arms, which Kol thinks, _'Okay, that's a little weird,'_ but he goes with it lest he sends up any more warning flags besides Damon missing time.

Surprisingly Kol falls asleep quickly.  He finds himself in the basement dungeon of the home he shares with his siblings looking at little Elena Gilbert sitting inside one of three barred cells in the space.  Kol smiles because he knows that the bars have Vervain and Wolfsbane both on the inside core of the bars and coated on the outside.  Elena's noticeable dried tear tracks on her face and the still healing blisters on her hands tell Kol that she learned that fact the hard way. 

Smiling his not nice smile again he asks the pouting girl responsible for his death, "Hmm, Darling, are you aware of what I'm doing in your body as I do it or do you have no clue?"

Elena frowns and tells the man she hates more than anyone except Niklaus, "No, I found myself in this cell, and I think it's inside the mirror at my house." 

Kol nods while he looks behind her and sees the painting that hangs on the Gilbert's hallway wall opposite the mirror he and everyone else keep finding themselves trapped inside of. 

She tells him, "All I know is what happened there, which is nothing because no one is home."

Kol laughs and smirks before he tells the teen he hates more than everyone except his father and mother and tells her, "Then allow me to tell you what I plan to do while inside your hot, tight, little body.  I might have sex with your boyfriend again because he really is quite talented.  I'm curious what he can do with his tongue… but then I'm going to kill your brother while inside your body, which will give _you_ The Hunter's Curse instead of me.  I was going to do it in Damon's body, but I think staring into his older sister's face while you strangle him will hurt poor little Jeremy more than it would being killed by a man who has killed tens of thousands of people in his more than a century and a half as a vampire."

The selfish girl gasps and says, "Please don't!  I'll do anything, please."  Frowning I shake my head at the pair because Elena is more worried about her gaining The Hunter's Curse than about the fact that her baby brother will be dead and gone.  To prove my hypothesis the brunette girl thinks, _'If God really exists, please, God, I can't survive that hell again.  I don't want to die by my own hand.  I don't want to die at all.  If you keep my body from killing Jer I'll do anything you want, God, please.  I won't survive the curse long enough for Damon to find another potential hunter and save me again.'_

My eyes widen, _'If God really exists?'_   That girl came to church with her parents and brother every Sunday just the same as my granddaughter and me, and she has doubts?  I look deeper at her thoughts and realize she's never genuinely believed that God exists, and she always resented the adults and even my grandbaby who often tried to tell her otherwise. 

No wonder she's so selfish.  She doesn't believe God is real, so she sees no reason to follow his commandments to love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself, as Jesus loves each and every one of us.

I focus back on my friend in time to see his smirk deepen before he tells Elena, who is nearly sobbing, "Probably should have thought of that before you and your brother planned my murder and then executed that plan.  Now, do you think I should drain him dry or stick with my original idea and strangle him?"

He pauses and crosses his arms over his chest, and when all she does is deepen her pout and doesn't respond, he asks her, "Do you know it takes more than two minutes to kill someone by strangulation?  In fact, it can take up to ten whole minutes if you don't know what you're doing.  I'm quite well versed in all manner of murder so it would be two minutes of your baby brother staring into your eyes while you choke the breath right out of him.  Kind of fitting don't you think?  After all, you forced _my_ big brother to watch as you and my former mate set me on fire and murdered me."

He shifts on his feet and asks, "Do you know how much it hurts to have the fire burning your flesh and feeling the magic that animates you violently pulled from your body?  The short answer is there is no other pain quite like it.  While I'd prefer to show your brother exactly what it felt like, I think your boyfriend might notice the smoke and the screaming, so I'll just settle for watching the life fade from your baby brother's eyes while your hands are tightly wrapped around his throat."

She's crying and trembling before Kol tells her, "Yes, I think my best bet is to stick with strangulation.  Well, it's been fun chatting with you, but I have things to do, a brother to kill."


	4. Should Have Thought Twice

****

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Chapter 004**

**Should Have Thought Twice**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Monday, December 06, 2010, around 6:30 a.m.**

**Damon's Bedroom in the Salvatore Boarding House**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

Kol opens Elena's eyes and looks over at her sleeping boyfriend.  He leans his borrowed face closer to the younger vampire and holding his breath lifts Damon's arm from around his shoulder, and then he waits a moment. 

When he's convinced Damon is still sound asleep, Kol slowly sits up and then scoots to the edge of the bed before he sneaks out of bed and heads to the bathroom.  He moves in front of the mirror, and then he looks at himself in the mirror and whispering as quietly as he can manage he compels Elena, "You will not try to kill yourself until The Hunter's Curse is broken.  Then, and only then, will you try to meet the sun the following morning and every morning after that until you're successful in killing yourself.  If anyone asks you're to say, you're trying to kill yourself because you're so overcome with grief over having killed poor Jeremy."

Kol's borrowed body quietly repeats everything he just said so we're both certain the compulsion worked.

Walking back into the bedroom he thinks, _'Yes, making Elena kill Jeremy will be perfect because then Jeremy will be dead after feeling betrayed by his sister, Elena will suffer The Hunter's Curse, and poor Damon will be forced to watch while the woman he loves suffers from the curse and pure unadulterated guilt.  I hope it'll be years before she breaks the curse.  Then again because Silas is now apparently dead maybe there won't be any more hunters called.  An eternity of the curse would be fabulous.'_

While I definitely think the Gilbert siblings were way out of line killing Kol, I can't bring myself to be as happy as Kol is at the prospect of any of my granddaughter's friends suffering in such ways.  They made a mistake or two, yes, but my friend is currently making a few of his own.

I'm brought back from my thoughts when Kol walks around the bed and then leaning in close again determines that Damon is still fast asleep.  Standing back up he walks to the armoire and after taking a shirt off one of the hangers throws on another of Damon's button-down shirts and then walks out of the room and down the hall to Jeremy's room.

Entering the room, we find the boy still tossing, turning, and crying in his sleep.  He moans my grandbaby's name a couple times, and Kol vaguely recalls that Jeremy and my now dead granddaughter used to date.

He smirks and thinks, _'Well no worries, Mate, you'll be joining her on The Otherside momentarily.'_   Walking to the side of the bed, Kol climbs onto it and then wraps Elena's borrowed and smaller than he's used to hands around her brother's neck and squeezes.

Jeremy's eyes pop open almost immediately, and my old friend straddles the other teen's waist to keep control of him while Jeremy scratches at his sister's arms and tries to buck her off him.  Kol can clearly see the question, _'Why?'_ written all over the young man's face.

Kol decides to answer his former friend's question, so he leans down to Jeremy's ear and tells him, "I'm not Elena, Mate.  I'm Kol, trapped inside your sister.  So, you see this is just a bit of payback.  I kill you and then when I leave your sister's body she'll be stuck with the nasty Hunter's Curse.  Win-win, well for me anyway, not so much for the two of you."

He pulls away and sees the shock in Jeremy's wide eyes while his struggling slowly weakens.  Ten seconds later the boy's hands, which have been gripping his sister's wrists, fall to his side when he becomes unconscious.  However, the ever knowledgeable Kol holds on for a good ten minutes just to be sure the teen is dead because if you let go too soon the person will get oxygen and eventually wake up, possibly brain-damaged, but they'd still wake up.

When Kol is satisfied that Jeremy is dead, he climbs off the boy and tells his dead body, "Should have thought twice about killing me, Mate."

Then Kol thinks, _'Hmm, maybe I should reenter Damon and go find that commoner my sister brought to mother's ball.  The whelp betrayed my baby sister's trust by helping to kill Finn in cold blood, so he deserves whatever horrible fate I can dream up for him.  Hmm, I seem to recall my brother's annoying hybrid is close to the quarterback too.  Now, what was his name because I certainly can't compel the boy's nearest and dearest to murder him if I can't recall the peasant's name?  Scott, Pat, no Matt.  Yes, I'll go visit young Tyler and compel him to kill his best friend because I understand the boy my sister was so fond of has been remarkably close to young Ms. Elena their whole lives.  I think they even dated at one point, so I'll kill several birds with one stone if I get Mr. Lockwood to rip out his best mate's heart.'_  

Satisfied with his plans Kol goes downstairs and waits for Damon to wake so he can tearfully tell the other vampire what he's done and manipulate Damon into touching him again.  He considers just going back into Damon's bedroom and jumping into his body while he's asleep, but he's not sure if he'll end up asleep because Damon is, and he knows better than to leave Elena unattended, especially if there is even a slight chance she might figure out the game he's playing.  So instead, he goes downstairs to wait for Damon to wake naturally.

Because I'm still trapped in this nightmare unable to stray far from Kol's side I go with him and stare longingly at the alcohol cart.  What I wouldn't do for a stiff drink after everything I've borne witness to thus far.

Due to my wayward friend's ever-present short amount of patience after sitting in the living room for a few minutes, he gets up and rifles through their things.  He doesn't find anything particularly interesting, so he pours himself a glass of scotch.  Then he sits back down in the living room comforting himself with the knowledge that not only has he killed Jeremy and saddled Elena with The Hunter's Curse but he's also putting a rather sizable dent in Damon's alcohol stores.  Two hours and a decanter and a half of the good stuff later Stefan comes sneaking in the front door.

He's apparently fallen off the wagon even further than Kol pushed him earlier.  He has, for the time being at least, given up eating Bambi because the blood and cum of several people once again covers him if the stench Kol smells coming from the front hall is any indication. 

My friend walks his host's body out to the hallway.  Smiling at the knowledge that poor Stefan has completely fallen off the bandwagon Kol asks, "Have fun?"  Stefan sure looks like he did because he's covered in even more blood this time.  Kol's borrowed nose, though much less sensitive than his usual nose detects the blood and sex of at least four women on The Ripper of Monterrey.

Stefan's eyes widen, and then he charges his former girlfriend's body yelling, "Mind your own fucking business, Elena!"

Just when his hand wraps around Kol's throat, my friend jumps into Stefan's body and squeezes Elena's neck tighter.  Her eyes widen when she comes back to herself, and we can both clearly see her wondering what the hell is going on and how she wound up in the entry hall with her ex-boyfriend strangling her. 

A moment later arms wrap around Stefan's body from behind and pull him off Elena before throwing him across the hall and into the living room.

While Damon stalks towards his brother Elena says, "Damonnnn, waaaaait, I think it'sssss Kollllll."

He stops and turns his head just slightly looking at her from the corner of his eye while still keeping an eye on his brother and asks, "What do you mean?"

The very inebriated teen frowns and slurring slightly says, "Stefaaan lost timmme and obvvvviously killlled at leassst two peoplllle after havvvving sex wiiiith themmmm.  Thennnn while you and I were having sexxxx you called me Darling twicccce and as soon as I said the name 'Kollll' I lost time.  I just caaame back to myselffff to find Stefan's hands wrapped around my neckkkk, and I don't remember anything after saying 'Kol?'  I thinkkkk I might be veryyyy drunk toooooo."

Elena pauses to take an unnecessary breath and wobbles a little on her feet before she then continues by saying, "Plussss, Klaus saiddddd Kol possessssssed himmmm and killed Carolinnnnne.  At the timmmme, I thought he waaaas full of shitttt, but now I thinnnk he might havvvvve been telling the truthhhhh, and Kolllll is somehow possesssssing all of usssss and causing usssss to do things weeee wouldn't normally doooo.  Who knows what he had meeeee do while he was inside meeeeee."

The ancient man in question smirks and tells her, "Not as stupid as I thought you were, Darling, though I'm afraid you're a bit too late to save your precious brother."

She comes at the body snatching original while she shrieks, "What did you do to Jeremy?"

She never reaches the other vampire though because Damon reaches out and grabs her, holding her tight before he tells her, "If you're right, and I'm inclined to think you are, then he probably needs to touch us to switch bodies so touching him is a bad idea."

Kol smirks deeper and tells her, "Oh poor Jeremy just ran out of breath."

The still very drunk Elena reaches for Kol despite her boyfriend's warning, which causes Damon to sigh before he snaps her neck.  When he places her gently on the sofa, he says, "Sorry, Elena but I need both hands to deal with Kol."

Kol smiles his not nice smile and asks, "And how exactly are you planning to deal with me, Mate?"

Damon smiles and then without notice jumps, and that's the last thing Kol knows until he wakes still inside Stefan's body but in the basement cell of the boarding house.

The original looks towards the door and sees Damon looking in but studiously making sure not to make eye contact, "Ah good, you're awake.  I was kind of surprised I hit you exactly right to knock you out without you being able to jump into me.  I figure that was a once in a million lucky shot, but I'm grateful for it.  Then the whole time I was bleeding you I figured you'd wake up, but you never did.  Now you stay here while Elena and I try to figure out how to put you back in the correct body."

Kol's borrowed hazel eyes narrow and his lips thin out while he thinks, _'Dammit!  Even if it was a once in a million lucky shot the fact I allowed him to make it is embarrassing.'_   His fists clench, and his borrowed teeth grind before he continues his thought, _'How the hell am I going to get out of here without allowing them to put me back into my burnt corpse?'_

I still can't seem to leave Kol's side, so I sit in the straight-backed chair in the corner of the cell and wait.  A few hours later the original hears the ever-annoying Damon tell Tyler, "Okay, so we know where Katherine was staying, and my source says Elijah has been sniffing around there, so Elena and I are going to go track him down.  No matter how pissed you are at Kol don't go down there because even though I bled Stefan as much as possible, we're not sure if Mini-Klaus can compel you even from Stefan's body.  And if he can, all it would take is one glance, and he'd be out again and inside you, so don't do it no matter how tempting it is, okay?"

I see in Damon and Elena's thoughts when Tyler nods and says, "Yeah man, I got it.  Believe me, I know there is at least one more person he could use me to hurt, and I owe it to Caroline not to get Matt killed, so I'll just stay up here no matter what."

Damon nods back and says, "Good," and then him and Elena head out to the Camaro.  My eyes widen when without trying I find myself sitting in the back of Damon's car.  Apparently, I finally get to leave Kol's side, but I still can't seem to leave this nightmare.

Even in the car, I hear Kol think, _'Fuck, if there is one person who can put an end to my fun it's Elijah.  He has enough contacts in the witch world that he could easily get someone to put me back where I should be.  Dammit!  Well, here's to hoping he finally does right by me.  As if that'll ever happen.'_

Despite once calling Kol my friend I find myself praying Elijah does right by Elena and not his brother.  I sit back when Damon pulls out of the driveway and wonder where exactly we're heading.  I try to think myself back into the cell with Kol just to see if I can, but I stay firmly seated in the Camaro, so I resign myself to going along for the ride to where ever Damon thinks Elijah is.

 

**______________________________________________________________________________**

After just over five hours in the back of the Camaro watching Damon watch Elena silently argue with the imagined ghosts of her friends and family, I turn my head to look back out the window at the setting sun and passing scenery and the next thing I know I find myself standing in a richly appointed apartment.  Based on where Damon and Elena were heading and the fact that I'm now staring at Elijah I figure I'm in Katherine Pierce's apartment in Pennsylvania. 

My suspicion is confirmed when I hear the original think, _'I've been waiting in this small town for Katerina to call and inform me that she has managed to get her hands on The Cure for a week now.  I've got a foreboding feeling something has happened.'_  

When he heard that Kol died, he thought that was what the bad feeling was trying to tell him, but the feeling has only grown since Kol died, so he has been trying to reach Katherine all day, but she's not picking up her phone.

Elijah gets up from the couch in the apartment she keeps here and buttons his jacket before he walks to the door.  When he opens it, his eyes open wide because he finds Damon and Elena on the other side about to knock.

He silently laments, _'Young Elena is but a poor man's copy of my Katerina.'_   His face does not give away his rude thought because the moment he realizes he's not alone he schools his features and hides his surprise.  Pausing he looks the pair over and notices that the usually snarky vampire looks weary and the bright and typically happy doppelganger, well she looks like but a shadow of her old self. 

He frowns ever-so-slightly while he wonders, _'What could have possibly put that haunted look in her eyes that refuse to meet mine.  I sincerely doubt it's guilt over killing yet another of my brothers.'_  

He knows he'll never find out if they all just keep staring at each other, so he clears his throat slightly and asks, "Well, to what do I owe this unexpected visit?"

Damon, rude as always, pushes his way inside before he turns and says, "We need to talk."

Elijah decides to be the bigger man and not call Damon on his lack of manners, mostly because he knows anything he might say on that subject would most definitely fall on incredibly deaf ears and would be a waste of Elijah's valuable time and energy.

Figuring this visit is about Katherine he asks the pair, "Where is Katerina?"

The shock on both younger vampires' faces tells him more than any words ever could that they have no clue where his preferred doppelgänger is.  Elena's words just confirm it, "Why would we know where Katherine is?"

The usually brash Damon speaks up, "Uh, probably because this is her apartment."

Smiling just a little, Elijah tells Damon and Elena, "Your faces when I asked her whereabouts is enough to tell me that you don't know where she is.  So, what do you wish to discuss with me, and might I ask how you found me here?"

Damon frowns and says, "I was actually hoping to find Katherine and ask her if she knew how to get in touch with you.  Actually, finding you here just saves me from the annoying task of having to negotiate with her."

Elijah nods and waves his hand in a hurry up gesture before saying, "You wish to discuss…"

Damon's next words shock him, "Kol.  Uh, you do know he died right?"

Despite his eyes narrowing and his back muscles tightening up Elijah keeps his face and voice neutral and nods before he says, "Yes Rebekah called and informed me that your group had killed him in defense of Mr. Gilbert.  My younger brother always was rash and acted before thinking things through.  If he is dead, what do you wish to discuss?"

Damon's frown deepens before he says, "He's dead but not gone.  He seems to be possessing people and doing things they wouldn't want to do before jumping bodies and doing the same to the next person.  We know he possessed Klaus and forced him to kill Caroline.  We're pretty sure he fucked and then killed two women while in Stefan's body.  And he killed Jeremy while in Elena's body."

Elijah's eyes get progressively wider with each word out of Damon's mouth.  When the younger vampire pauses Elijah interjects, "Well what did you expect?  My understanding is that Elena and Jeremy conspired against him and then killed him when all my baby brother wanted was to prevent the destruction of the world.  Of all my siblings, Kol is the one most prone to seek bloody vengeance, and I am certain, as you should be, that he won't stop until he has gotten revenge on all of you."

Damon nods and says, "We know, that's why we're here, we're hoping you can help us put him back where he belongs once and for all, so we can prevent anyone else from being harmed."

Elijah can't keep his face from frowning before he asks dryly, "Your group has now killed not one but two of my brothers in cold blood, so give me one damn good reason I should help any of you do anything except die long and excruciating deaths."

Elena has tears in her eyes and says, "Elijah, please, he forced me to kill my own brother, surely that makes us even."

Frowning, Damon adds, "Plus, Jer was a hunter, so now she's dealing with The Hunter's Curse, so that makes us doubly even."

Frowning back at the pair Elijah asks, "Where is Kol now?  Who does he possess currently?"

Damon shifts slightly on his feet and crosses his arms over his chest and with his ever-present frown still deeply etched into his face he asks, "So you'll help us?"

Elijah straightens his tie and then nods, though, he's more inclined to make up his multiple failings as an older brother by assisting Kol, but he decides he won't tell them that, so he instead nods.

Damon looks at the original hard for a minute, and because the younger man is the only one in their entire group with enough wherewithal to figure out the game Elijah is now playing he schools his features into a disinterested mask.  A moment later Damon nods and says, "He's inside Stefan and currently locked up in the cell in our basement."

The ever-proper Elijah nods and says, "Well, I might know of a witch that can help.  However, first, call me crazy for needing to verify what you say is the truth, but I must see my brother and ascertain that you are indeed being honest with me, after all, you and your group do have an uncanny knack for lying or bending the truth whenever it suits your purposes."

Frowning again, or still, Damon tells the other man, "Hello, pot, this is Kettle, you're black."

Elijah doesn't even need to work awfully hard to keep a straight face because he is entirely unamused.

After getting no reaction out of the older vampire, Damon nods, mostly to himself and says, "I'll drive."

That gets a reaction.  Elijah shakes his head and tells the incredibly annoying younger man, "I'll drive myself and follow you."

Damon looks at Elijah again, wondering if the older vampire is going to try to flee, but the truth is if he really didn't want to be here right now their being here would not impede Elijah's ability to leave.

After a pregnant pause, Damon nods once and says, "Let's go."

Elijah looks around once and then follows Damon and Elena out the door being sure to lock it on his way out.

I try to ride back to Mystic Falls with Elijah who was also a dear friend while he was on The Otherside after his brother daggered him following the reversal of the so-called sun and moon curse. 

I manage to think myself into the front seat of Elijah's car, so I smile and wait while he gets in and settles himself.  Once in the car, he puts on his favorite Dvorak CD, and then we both resign ourselves to the impending more than five and half hour conversation free drive. 

Elijah spends the time considering his options.  He's lost track of how many times he's helped Niklaus dagger Kol, a fact he is deeply ashamed to admit even to himself.  He has not done right by his youngest surviving brother.  He thinks, _'Granted he was usually leading Mikael right to us with his bloodbaths, but, still, I should have found another way.  However, what is in the past is just that, in the past.  I can't change what I did back then.  I can only change what I do now.'_  

I was wrong to pray for Elijah not to help his baby brother.  I may not agree with Kol's actions, but he is technically justified because Elena and company killed him first.

Elijah thinks, _'I can admit to having a slight soft spot when it comes to Elena. Therefore, I regret that her brother is dead, and she now will suffer The Hunter's Curse.  Then again_ two _of_ my _brothers are dead at her and her friends' hands and only Kol has found a way to make those responsible pay for their crimes against our family.'_

He smiles a bit.  Kol always was a creative soul, and although Elijah doesn't know how his younger brother managed to avoid going to The Otherside or how he is able to possess people he has no doubt that Kol has done both things.  He also wasn't kidding when he told Damon and Elena that his baby brother, out of all the Mikaelson children, is the most likely to seek vengeance.  Frowning slightly, he thinks, _'I know most individuals think that title goes to Niklaus.  It's true Niklaus is vicious in his pursuit of revenge, and he's certainly had more opportunities to go after his own brand of Justice than Kol has.  However, it's Kol who has the deepest urges to seek out opportunities to perpetrate his own form of punishment against those who have wronged him.  True he rarely has had an opportunity to show off his vindictive side but the few times he has it was spectacular, and this time is apparently no different.'_

Almost six hours later and after several phone calls spoken in Proto-Norse to keep Damon and Elena unaware of his plans, he pulls into the driveway of The Salvatore Boarding House and parks his Mercedes.  He schools his features into a slightly understanding and sympathetic countenance, though, not too much, or they'll know something is amiss, and then he gets out of his car.


	5. Loyalty

****

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Chapter 005**

**Loyalty**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

 

**Monday, December 06, 2010, at around 10:00 p.m.**

**Outside the Salvatore Boarding House**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

Almost six hours and several phone calls later, Elijah pulls into the driveway of The Salvatore Boarding House and parks his Mercedes.  He schools his features into a slightly understanding and sympathetic countenance, though, he makes sure not to overplay his part lest his enemies figure out the game he's decided to play with them all. 

When Elena gets out of the electric blue Camaro, Elijah notices that her shoulders are drooped and although she's not making eye contact with anyone her eyes look even more haunted than they were back in Pennsylvania.  He thinks, _'If Kol did, in fact, kill her brother, The Hunter, while he was inside her body then I have no doubt the girl truly is haunted.'_  

He finds it disturbing to see the once so bright and upbeat young woman look so downtrodden.  However, in his humble opinion, she never should have planned to kill his younger brother.  Elijah heard enough from his sister and Niklaus during his phone calls to them while driving to know there was an actual plan to kill Kol and that Elena and Jeremy actively set a trap, so he feels it's really her own damn fault.

Once Damon leads the original into the house Elijah turns to catch Damon's eye and compels him, "You will bring me down to the cell and give me the key.  Then you and Elena will stand still and not move or say anything until I have left."

Damon repeats everything Elijah just said, but then Tyler comes out of the living room to investigate what's going on, so Elijah quickly compels him too before turning to Elena.  Although catching her eye is a little more difficult than usual, he manages and then repeats the compulsion on her.  Once she repeats it back to him, he sweeps his arm towards the stairs to the basement and tells Damon, "Lead the way."

Damon does as he's told and soon Elijah has the key to the cell in his hand, and he's looking in on Stefan lying on the floor looking a little too pale for Elijah's comfort while his brother is inside of the younger vampire.

Turning to Damon who is just standing behind him like he told him to, Elijah compels the usually sarcastic pain in the ass, "Get me three blood bags."

When Elijah has three blood bags in hand, he opens the door and walks in before squatting beside his baby brother's host and saying, "Kol, Brother, can you hear me?"

The younger original nods, "Yes… Brother… I… can… hear… you."

Kol's voice is weak, and it takes a bit of effort on his part to answer his brother.  Elijah wonders, _'Just how much did they bleed Stefan and how is it that Damon didn't seem to care that by harming_ my _brother he was also harming_ his own _brother.'_

Before Elijah gives his younger brother blood and returns his strength to him, he tells his baby brother, "I need you to listen very closely, Kol, okay?"

Though very weak Kol nods ever so slightly, so Elijah continues softly, "I have not done right by you in the past, and I know this, so I am going to help you now.  I'm going to allow you to possess me, but first, once you are inside me and in control, I need you to find someone powerful and possess them and live their life for the rest of eternity.  It can be me if you want, or you can choose someone else, that choice is yours alone, though, Niklaus has offered the use of his body until we can make other arrangements, so he might be the better choice because he is as close to indestructible as a creature can get.  Either way, you are our brother, and we will not do wrong by you today.  We only hope that we can make up to you our continued lapses in judgment when we repeatedly neutralized you, be it by giving you our bodies to reside in or even if it's just to get you out of here now.  Know that you are our brother, Always and Forever, and if you do choose Niklaus’ body for the time being, I will help you find the most suitable person to take over for the rest of eternity.  If you remain inside me, Niklaus has sworn to do the same, and we brainstormed several ideas during our conversation, so he knows my thoughts on the matter.

Kol smiles just ever so slightly and softly says, "Always and Forever, Brother."

Elijah nods and repeats the words before he opens the first blood bag valve and holds it up to his brother's mouth.  Kol quickly finishes the bag and has enough strength back to hold the next bag on his own.  After he has drunk the second bag, he smiles and tells Elijah, "You do know that by feeding me human blood you are ensuring that Stefan will crave it and likely remain off the animal diet for the foreseeable future?"

Elijah shows he can be just as vindictive as his siblings when he smiles and tells his brother, "I am aware, and that is actually the only reason I fed you.  Otherwise, I would have just allowed you to jump straight from him to me without feeding him.  Consider it my payback for all he and his friends have done to our family."

Kol laughs and asks, "Will you object if I compel Damon and Tyler to do some things for me, once we leave?"

Frowning again, Elijah shakes his head once and then tells him, "I meant what I said Kol, I will support you in all ways possible.  My loyalty is now yours equally with Niklaus and Rebekah.  No more playing favorites.  I owe you no less for all the ways I have wronged you."

When Kol finishes the third bag, he stands and then tosses the empty container to the floor.  Walking out of the cell he catches Tyler's eye before compelling him, "You will not remember the details of this compulsion or that Elijah was here and has helped me escape.  When my brother and I leave, you will make your excuses and go find Matt, and you will kill him in the most painful way you can come up with.  When you finish, you will return here and tell Damon and Elena what you did and stand still until Damon kills you.  You also will not do or know anything for one hour after I release you."

Tyler repeats the compulsion, so Kol turns to Damon and compels him, "You will not remember this compulsion or that Elijah was here and has helped me escape.  You will still think that I am possessing Stefan until he proves otherwise.  When Tyler comes to you and tells you that he has killed Matt you will rip out his heart.  Then you will find Stefan and rip out his heart preferably with Elena watching while you do it.  You also will not do or know anything for one hour after I release you."

Damon repeats the compulsion, so Kol turns to Elena and compels her not to remember his older brother helping him or the compulsions he placed on Damon and Tyler.  Then he turns back to his older sibling and says, "If you don't mind compel Stefan to lose an hour, but make sure you use his name just in case I can be compelled while in his body."

Elijah nods and says, "Of course brother," then he catches Stefan's eyes and tells him, "Stefan, you will know nothing and do nothing for the next hour."

Kol repeats his brother's words back to him, so he smiles and then holds out his hand.  Elijah takes an unnecessary breath and then grabs hold of his brother's hand while he tries to consciously drop his mental defenses, so the younger man can enter his body.

The next thing I know, Elijah and I are sitting in the same cell Elena had been in while staring at the painting on the beige wall of the Gilbert's downstairs hallway from inside the mirror.  I try to leave but again some outside force is preventing me from going elsewhere, so I sit on the ground and wait to see how long we will remain here.  If Kol is smart, and he usually is, he will take Elijah's advice and find Niklaus and overtake him temporarily.

I have no idea how long we wait, but then suddenly I feel a pull, and then I'm looking at Niklaus and Elijah.  It only takes me a moment to realize that Kol did, in fact, take his brother's advice and has taken over the hybrid's body, thus returning Elijah to his own body once more.

Kol in Niklaus' body turns to their older brother and says, "I hope you meant what you said, Brother, because if you betray me again, I won't hesitate to get even."

Elijah smiles and tells him honestly, "Always and Forever, Brother, mine and Niklaus’ loyalty is now yours."

The younger original smiles and they embrace each other's forearm to forearm and then Elijah pulls Kol into a half hug.  When Kol pulls back, he smiles and says, "This is a new beginning Elijah, I can feel it."

Elijah nods, and they go upstairs to their rooms to sleep after a rather long day.  Surprisingly they fall asleep quickly.  Tomorrow is a new day, and their enemies will be destroying themselves, and Elijah hopes he will be able to repair his relationship with his youngest surviving brother. 

I stand in Niklaus' studio for a few minutes and then I think myself back to The Salvatore Boarding House to see what Damon and Elena are up to now that The Original Brothers have vacated the premises.

When I arrive at the boarding house I 'land' in the basement.  Looking around the basement, I see that the foursome is still just standing there staring off into space totally unaware of their surroundings, so now I know that Kol managed to possess Niklaus in under an hour.  I lean against the wall and wait for them to all come to.  Roughly ten minutes later, first Tyler, then Damon, and then Elena shift their feet ever so slightly, so I look up and my eyes land on Damon and Tyler while Elena's do the same. 

She wonders, _'How did we get here?'_   The last she recalls is going to find Katherine.  She continues her internal questioning, _'Did Kol possess me again?'_   Pausing the doppelgänger considers her companions' appearances.  They seem just as confused as she is, so she decides that Kol probably didn't possess her again because he couldn't have possessed all three of them at the same time.  That also doesn't take into account the mystery of how they came to be back at the house.  Kol possessing her wouldn't account for the confusion all three of them seem to be exhibiting.

Stefan is looking around too.  No one seems to have realized he's not in the cell where they last put him until he asks, "Damon what's going on?"

All eyes snap to Stefan's before Damon responds by punching him in the face and then using his confusion to toss him into the cell.  He slams the door closed and locks it.  While he breathes heavily, he tells Stefan, "You won't fool us a second time, Kol."

Elena looks to Damon's left and sees Jeremy who says, "Yeah he won't be fooled like you were Elena.  How could you let him kill me?  It's all your fault.  If you hadn't have come up with the brilliant idea for me to kill Kol and his entire sire-line, I'd still be alive."

She tears her eyes away from her brother's ghost despite her knowing he's telling the truth and focuses on what Stefan is saying, "I swear I'm not Kol.  Ask me things only I would know."

Damon just frowns so his younger brother supplies, "I know it wasn't you who snuck into Mary Francis' room when I was seven and cut off her curls.  I did it because she picked on me the day before, but her father accused you, and Father switched you in front of her father."

He pauses then adds, "I also know it wasn't you who glued the pages of Father's Bible to each other.  I did that too figuring it'd be funny, but he thought you did it, and he switched you for that too."

Stefan pauses again and when his brother doesn't respond with more than a frown he tells Damon, "I know you lost your virginity to Ellen Lockwood on your 14th birthday."

Tyler chooses that moment to butt in with, "Dude, you slept with my ancestor?"

Damon still doesn't say anything, but I catch him rolling his cerulean eyes when Stefan says, "Uh huh, I can list all the women he slept with until Katherine turned us.  Let's see there was Ellen and then Lucy Montgomery, and Elizabeth Fell, then there was…"

Damon takes a step towards the window and says, "Okay, I believe you're you, now shut up," then he reopens the door and goes in helping Stefan stand.

Despite having fed on three bags of human blood while Kol still possessed him, Stefan leans on his brother's shoulder while they leave the cell and the three vampires and one hybrid all head upstairs to the living room.  When they get upstairs, Tyler tells them, "Uh, I have something I need to do, so I'll catch you guys later okay?"

I wish there were a way to warn them of Matt's impending death, but I know I'm helpless to stop or change the future in any way.  Unaware of what's coming, they all nod, so Tyler leaves while the rest of them sit down and Damon looks at Stefan long and hard before he says, "So, somehow Kol escaped and we have no idea how or who he's possessing right now."

Stefan and Elena both nod, so while Elena ignores her mother standing to the left of her ex-boyfriend across from her she asks, "So what do we do now?"

Miranda throws in, "Oh, now you want to fix it, but you couldn't be bothered to save your own brother's life."

Elena puts her hands over her ears and tells her mother, "Stop, I didn't know Kol possessed anyone, or I would have stopped him from killing Jeremy."

She barely notices when Stefan's green eyes widen before he asks his brother, "Uh, Jeremy's dead?"

Damon nods and tells his brother, "Yes, Kol killed him while in Elena's body, so she's dealing with The Hunter's Curse right now.  I don't know who she was just talking to, but you can be sure they're blaming her for everything and tormenting her at every turn."

Stefan just nods so Damon nods back then says, "What we need is a witch, does anyone know how to get in touch with that witch Katherine brought here when she was after the moonstone?  She was Bonnie's cousin, right?  Would her contact info be in Bonnie's phone?"

Nodding Elena tells him, "I know they've been talking hold on a sec.  I have Bonnie's phone in your room."

Running up the stairs, I'm dragged with her while she studiously ignores my grandbaby's ghost who says, "Yeah just go rifling through my things.  You let me die, and now I don't even get the right to privacy?  You're useless Elena."

After she grabs the phone off the bedside table, she tells her best friend's ghost, "Shut up, just… shut up!"

Without waiting for the hallucination of Bonnie to respond, she just turns on her heel and heads back down the stairs and then hands the phone to Damon before telling him, "Her name is Lucy Bennett.  You better call her because I'm not entirely sure what's real and what's not."

He nods and flips through my granddaughter's contact list before smiling and hitting the send button.

It picks up after the second ring, and the voice of my grandmother's great-great niece says, "Bonnie, how's it going?"

Damon frowns and says, "Uh, actually this is Damon Salvatore.  I have some sad news.  Bonnie tried to raise Silas, and he killed her before a hunter killed him."

We can all hear the tears in Lucy's voice when she says, "Oh my God!"

With an ever-deepening frown, Damon tells her, "We're in a bit of a jam, and we need a witch to help contain an original who is possessing people and killing all of our loved ones while he is in our bodies.  I know you don't owe us anything, but Bonnie would have helped us, and you're our last shot at figuring out how to fix this."

Lucy sighs and then says, "I'm not in Baton Rouge right now.  I'm visiting friends in Charlotte, so once I get some supplies, I can be there in five or six hours.  I'll meet you at the Gilbert's house around 7 a.m."

Damon nods even though she can't see it and says, "Okay, we'll see you then."

For five hours I sit and watch Damon try to soothe his girlfriend and compete with her hallucinations for her attention.  Stefan seems lost in his own mind and after seeing that he's reliving fucking and killing several people the night before I do my best to stay out of his mind. 

I sigh in relief when Damon says, "Okay, it's time to go to Elena's."

Fifteen minutes later, finds us in the Gilbert's old house.  Elena wants to tear out her own hair because the spirits of her loved ones just won't leave her alone.  On some level, she knows they're not real and are in fact just hallucinations, but they're very convincing.  She finds it surprising, though, that none of them are trying to get her to kill herself this time for which she is incredibly grateful.  Instead, the ghosts have been having fun ridiculing her every move and when she enters her house she cringes when Jeremy's spirit says, "Ah, back to where you hatched up the crazy plan that got me killed."

Damon leads Elena, who is very distracted, understandably so, into the living room and sits her down on the couch.  He hasn't let her out of his sight for more than a few minutes at a time.  When she asks, "Damon, why are you stuck to me like glue?"

He smiles sadly and tells her, "I remember what you tried to do the last time you were cursed, and I'm not going to lose you, not after everything we've been through to be together.  I will always save you if I can."

A tear slips out of her chestnut eye, which he stops with his thumb before he leans in and kisses his girlfriend then he pulls back and says, "I love you, Elena.  We will fix this."

She just nods and ignores Jeremy and Bonnie's indignant snorts.

A moment later the doorbell rings, so Damon gets up and answers the door.  He comes back with a tall, statuesque woman that Elena knows is Bonnie's cousin.  She’s actually the granddaughter of my aunt, so she’s my second cousin and Bonnie’s second cousin twice removed. 

She nods at Elena and asks, "It was a five-hour drive.  Do you mind if I use your bathroom before we figure out what's going on?"

Elena shakes her head and tells her, "No, go down the hall, and it's the second door on the right."

Lucy disappears down the hallway, but all three vampires rush to her side when she gasps and says, "Oh My God!"

When we reach the hallway, she is standing there staring into the mirror, so Damon says, "I don't think you look bad even after a five-hour trip, so what's up?"

She points to the mirror and asks, "Do you know him?"

The three vampires lean in and look, and Elena thinks, _'Oh My God, is that Klaus?'_  

Damon frowns and says, "That's Klaus, the brother of Kol, the one possessing people.  How is he in there?"

Elena reaches toward the mirror, but Lucy grabs her hand, "Whatever you do don't touch the glass or we'll have two originals possessing people.  As for how he's in there, my guess is he's who his brother is currently possessing."

Elena just nods, so Lucy says, "Bathroom first, then I'll look through my book, I think I have the spell to fix this if you can get me the ingredients I'll need."

Now it's Damon's turn to nod, so Lucy strides to the bathroom, and we head back to the living room.  A few minutes later she returns and sits down across from the vampires before asking, "So how did Kol die?  I assume because his brother is trapped in your mirror that Kol died in this house?"

Damon explains all that has happened in the last few weeks and then Lucy nods and takes a big book out of her bag.  She begins flipping through her grimoire, which I recognize as having been my aunt's at one point.  Mumbling to herself she flips each page before quickly scanning what's written on it and then turning to the following page until she says, "Got it, so I need… damn, I don't suppose you have the DNA of either of The Originals?"

Damon's ever-present frown deepens, but he says, "We know where Kol's body is buried and Caroline was bitten by Klaus, that's how she died so his bite should have the remains of his venom, which would be DNA right?"

Lucy nods, so Damon turns to his brother and asks, "Do you feel up to collecting DNA, Brother, because you're the one who buried them and therefore you know specifically where they're at?"

Stefan nods and takes the keys from his older brother's outstretched hand. 

Despite being slightly tired Lucy is incredibly determined, so she stands at the same time Stefan does.  She smiles kindly at all of them and says, "I need some things from my trunk, I'll be right back," and then she follows Stefan outside.

She returns a minute later with a small box filled with jars before she says, "Fortunately, I had some idea of what herbs I would need.  I brought everything I thought might be required, so I think I have all the herbs necessary for the spell."

Setting the box on the coffee table she begins taking jars out of it.

Meanwhile, Elena just stares off into space while she unsuccessfully ignores her parent's when they say, "You're such a disappointment, Elena.  The daughter we loved wouldn't have killed our son."

She tunes everything out to the best of her ability and just sort of zones out, and I take my cues from her and follow suit.  I'm brought back to the real world by Stefan coming in through the front door.  He hands Lucy something wrapped in cloth before he says, "The finger is Kol's, the other is what I could get of the bite in Caroline's shoulder."

Caroline chooses that moment to appear and tell her best friend, "Yeah a bite I wouldn't have gotten if you hadn't come up with the harebrained idea to kill a freaking original.  I'd still be alive, Elena, if it wasn't for you!"

Elena sits up straight and staring straight into her best friends eyes she shouts, "Shut up, just shut up I know it's all my fault.  I know."  As soon as the last word leaves her lips, she deflates and hunches over in her seat while staring at her shoes.  Damon squats in front of her and turns her face up so he can look into her watery eyes, "You listen to me Elena, I know the hallucinations are telling you this is all your fault but they're wrong.  You can trace it all back to Katherine and Klaus's conflict.  If Katherine hadn't turned herself, Klaus never would have come to town, and you'd still be human, and Caroline, Bonnie, and Jeremy would still be alive.  None of this is your fault, do you understand?"

She nods as much as his hand on her chin will allow, so he leans in and steals a brief kiss before standing back up and turning to Lucy, "Okay, so what do you need?  Anything else?"

Lucy nods and asks, "Elena, do you have a pastry brush?"

The still sniffling teen frowns before wondering, _'What the hell is a pastry brush?'_  

Damon laughs and tells the witch, "She wouldn't know what one was if it bit her, but I think I recall seeing one during one of the many times I've cooked here."

He walks into the kitchen and opens a drawer before coming back with a small brush in his hand.  When he hands it to the determined witch, he asks, "Out of curiosity, why do you need it?"

Lucy smiles and says, "If I touch my skin to the glass, Klaus will be able to jump bodies and possess me, and I'll be trapped in the mirror.  I'm pretty sure Kol would be free and clear, and you would be unable to put him back, or at least not without some serious planning and organizing and trying to manipulate people into giving their DNA, plus you'd be down a witch.  Anyhow, the brush will allow me to brush this paste I've made onto the glass without having to touch it."

All the vampires present nod, so she asks Damon, "Can you take the mirror down and bring it in here?  Whatever you do don't touch the glass!"

He nods and goes into the hallway before returning a moment later with the mirror.  He places it down on the coffee table beside all of Lucy's supplies and then steps back to let her do her work.

She paints the paste mixture onto the surface of the mirror in the shape of a Pentagram and then she begins chanting.  The lights go out, and a wind blows through the house, and when the lights come back on, Kol is inside the mirror and baring his teeth at everyone in the room.

Elena jumps in her seat a minute later when Lucy takes a hammer out of her box and begins smashing the mirror into pieces.  When she's satisfied that the mirror is nothing but shards of shattered glass and the slivers are small enough, she turns back to Damon and tells him, "I need a dustpan, a broom, and a garbage bag and, if you have it, a box."

Damon hurries away to get her what she needs before coming back and standing beside his girlfriend while we all watch Lucy brush the pieces of mirror into the garbage bag and then tie it off before placing it in the box.  She adds Kol's severed finger and the remains of Caroline's torn flesh to the box and then closes the lid.

Handing it to Damon Lucy says, "If I were you, I wouldn't trust the garbage man to get that into the dump.  I'd bring it yourself and bury it.  Then there will never be a possibility of him ever getting back out."

He nods, and while Lucy puts her supplies back into her box, he tells her, "Thank you, Lucy, you don't by chance know how to locate a future hunter do you?"

Her eyes pop open wide, and her jaw drops a little before she frowns and asks, "Why would you need to do that?"

He frowns back and tells her, "Elena is cursed with The Hunter's Curse until the next hunter is called which requires them to kill their first supernatural.  The last time she suffered this curse, she tried to kill herself because the hallucinations got so bad, so I'd like to speed up the process by handing the next hunter a supe to kill on a silver platter and break the curse sooner rather than later."

Lucy frowns and sighs before dashing his hopes for a quick and relatively easy resolution, "I'm sorry, I'm not aware of any magickal way to find a hunter before or after they're called.  It's part of their magick, other magick can't find them.  Otherwise, The Original Family would have hunted them all down and killed every one of them before they could be called."

Damon nods and puts the box of broken glass down before shaking Lucy's hand and telling her, "I figured as much, but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask.  Thank you for everything, and I'm sorry for your loss.  Bonnie and I didn't always see eye to eye, but she was a good person."

Despite having only briefly known my granddaughter, Lucy loved her fiercely, so she has tears in her eyes when she laughs and says, "Based on what I know of you, as well as what I know of your relationship with my cousin, the fact that you just said that speaks volumes about the kind of extraordinary woman Bonnie Bennett was."

Damon nods so she smiles through her tears and tells him, "Keep my number in case Kol comes back or anything else goes down that requires a witch.   If I can help you, I will, in memory of Bonnie.  She would have wanted me to do that for all of you."

The three vampires all nod, and Lucy nods back before she walks out the door.  Damon turns to his brother and tells him, "Elena and I are going to go bury this in the landfill.  You coming with us?"

Stefan frowns and shakes his head before saying, "No I just want to sleep for a year."

Elena laughs at that before she follows the two brothers out of her house into the early morning light and then gets into the Camaro.  A moment later Damon starts the car and drives towards the County dump to dig a hole and hide a box full of an angry original.

I still can't escape, so I'm forced to watch while they climb the mound of garbage and then proceed to bury the Fed-Ex box.  When we get back to The Salvatore Boarding House from the dump, Tyler is waiting for them with blood covering him from nearly head to toe.  He frowns and tells the two vampires, "I don't know why, but I just killed Matt, and I'm supposed to come here and tell you."

Damon's eyes go wide, and he says, "Dammit, you must have been compelled."  Then he surprises the two teens by walking up to Tyler and sticking his hand into his chest and pulling the young man's heart out.

Elena gasps and asks, "If he was compelled, why did you do that?"

Damon's brows furrow and he shrugs slightly while he stares down at the heart in his hand and says, "I don't know I just had to."

Elena thinks, _'Shit that means he was compelled too.  God, will this nightmare ever end?  What if we're compelled to do other things too?'_  

When she voices the concern, Damon frowns deeper and says, "Well, we just imprisoned our one chance at undoing the compulsions, so I think we just have to hope for the best as much as that idea pisses me off."

She nods with a deep frown on her face before Damon picks up Tyler's desiccated body and carries it into the house.  Stefan is in the living room pouring himself a drink when we enter, and his eyes go wide before he asks, "Uh, what happened?"

Still frowning Damon tells his brother, "Kol happened.  We think he compelled Tyler to kill Matt and then compelled me to kill Tyler."

Stefan's mouth forms an 'O' while he just stands there for a minute.  Then he says, "Well barring any further complications I'm heading to bed."

When he walks by his brother, Damon reaches towards him and rips out his heart before dropping to his knees and cradling his brother's heartless body softly repeating, "No, no, no.  God Dammit.  Stefan, I'm so sorry, God, please let this just be a nightmare."

Elena is on her knees too, and the tears are pouring from her eyes while she looks at her ex-boyfriend's face still frozen in shock from when he realized what was happening a moment before Damon pulled his heart out.

The spirits of her loved ones gather around the three of them, and the newly dead Stefan tells her, "This is all your fault, Elena.  If you had just left Kol and The Cure alone, none of the people who have died this week would be dead.  This all falls on you."

She just nods while she watches Damon rocking his brother's body and crying silent tears that match her own.


	6. All the Future Holds

****

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Chapter 006**

**All the Future Holds**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Friday, December 10, 2010, around 9:00 a.m.**

**The Salvatore Boarding House**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

It's been three days since Niklaus magickally reentered his body.  He and Elijah both, unlike the others, seem to be able to recall that they were in the mirror and what happened to the mirror while they were in it.  Elijah and I have both decided that is because they're originals and the others are not.  Therefore, Niklaus remembers that Damon, Elena, Stefan and a witch they called Lucy did a spell to return him to his body and Kol to the mirror, information which he immediately shared with Elijah.

Elijah watches while Damon exits his house, gets into his Camaro, and then drives away from the boarding house without Elena.  When he's certain Damon is gone and can't hear him, he walks to the door and turns the handle, which they still don't seem to lock. 

Entering the house, Elijah follows his ears and his nose down to the basement cell where he finds _'the lovely'_ Elena locked inside the cell.

She doesn't appear to know that he's here, so he says her name, and as soon as her eyes connect with his, he compels her, "Where did you and Damon put the mirror with Kol inside it?"

She frowns but says, "We buried the pieces in the dump."

The always dressed to impress Elijah smiles and asks, "Is it in a container, and if so what sort of container is it in?"

She frowns deeper and says, "It's in a garbage bag inside a Fed-Ex box."

Elijah nods and tells the still crying Elena, "Good, now do you remember anything remarkable about the section of the landfill you buried it in?"

She shakes her head and tells him, "No, we went in through the south entrance and walked up the hill before digging and burying it."

Elijah frowns and thinks, _'That's not going to be much help, but it's better than my having to search the landfill in its entirety.'_  

Next, he asks, "What do you know about the witch who trapped my youngest brother inside the mirror?"

She frowns even more profoundly and is obviously trying to fight the compulsion, but the original is too strong for her, so she soon tells him everything she knows about my kin, "Her name is Lucy Bennett.  She's Bonnie's cousin, and she lives in Baton Rouge."

Elijah smiles a not nice smile to match several I've seen Kol wear and thinks, _'Excellent that information should make finding her so much easier.'_

On the off chance he can get Elena to do all his work for him, he smiles what he hopes is an encouraging and slightly comforting smile and asks, "Do you know her address?"

She shakes her head before telling him honestly, "No, but it's in Bonnie's phone which is upstairs on the bedside table in Damon's room."

His smile is genuine when he thinks, _'Well that's convenient,'_ so he tells her, "Very good, thank you, Elena.  You won't remember that I was here or any of our conversation.  So far as you know Niklaus and I have no idea what happened to Kol or how you removed him from Niklaus' body."

She repeats the compulsion, and by the time she says the last word Elijah has already added my cousin's contact information into his phone and is closing the front door and speeding away through the woods to where he parked his car on the other side of the forest behind the Salvatore's house.

I'm once again dragged along without my consent, and no matter how hard I try I can't leave a twenty-foot radius around Elijah.  Once the original and I are in his car, he turns it around and heads towards the landfill.  When we arrive, he goes in through the south entrance and compels the man guarding the gate to let him in and ignore his presence while we are here.

After Elijah parks the car, we get out, and he takes off his suit jacket.  Rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt he also takes off his tie before placing the coat and tie inside the car.  Then we walk towards the mound of garbage and climb to the top.

Using vampire speed, Elijah digs for about an hour before he notices the top of a box sticking out of the pile with Jeremy Gilbert's name and address on the box. 

Opening the box, we look inside and see a garbage bag, so he opens it as well and begins looking at each shard trying to find the one with his little brother inside it being sure not to touch his skin to any of the glass.  Finally, he finds Kol and tells him, "Oh thank God.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to find you here.  Nod if you can hear and understand me."

Kol nods so Elijah tells him, "Matt Donovan, Tyler Lockwood, and Stefan Salvatore are all finally dead.  Niklaus is back at our home awaiting us.  We both think you should take control of me and head for the house and then jump into Niklaus and retake control of him while we figure out who you should possess permanently.  Also, if I were you, I would take the entire box of mirror shards and hide it somewhere only you know about.  According to what Niklaus told me the spell their witch did has made this mirror the only thing other than a dead body or your natural body that can trap your spirit.  I would also find out where the Salvatore Brothers buried you and move your remains somewhere no one else knows about.  Keep the mirror and your body safe and no one will be able to stop you again."

Kol nods so while Elijah places his finger on the glass, he tells his brother, "Then feel free to jump into my body whenever you're ready."

Those are the last words he says before Kol takes over his body and then looks down to the mirror shard to see the usually impeccably dressed vampire smiling up at him despite the older man being somewhat disheveled, not to mention covered in trash residue.  Kol thinks, _'Well, I'll be damned, Elijah apparently really meant it when he said his loyalty is mine now.  I mean I know he's only ever broken his word that one time to save the rest of the family, but I was certain he would wash himself of my dilemma and forget all about me, but instead he appears to have tracked me down and saved me from an eternity trapped in that damn mirror.'_

He quickly realizes that Elijah is right about what he needs to do, too.  He needs to go see Niklaus and take him over for a while so that he can have Elijah’s active help.  He is the efficient strategist that has kept Niklaus from getting into too much trouble over the centuries after all. 

So Kol puts the shard back into the box and closes the box before he stands there contemplating his next move.  On the one hand, burying the box right back where it was would make its discovery harder to happen, especially the more time that passes because the city will pile more and more garbage on top of it.  However, that also means someday someone could dig it up either on purpose or by accident, so he decides to take Elijah's advice and take the box with him and hide it where no one else will be able to access it.

Decision made Kol walks down the mound of trash with the box in hand, and when he gets to the car, he places the box inside on the front passenger side seat and climbs into the car.

He says loud enough for his brother to hear him, "Thank you, Brother, for having had the foresight to teach me how to drive," then Kol leaves the dump and heads back to the Mikaelson's home.

When we arrive, he senses that his hybrid brother is in the back of the house, painting, so he grabs the box and Elijah's jacket and tie and quietly walks into the house as if everything is normal.

Walking up the stairs, Kol strides into his oldest brother's room, and after emptying his pockets onto the bedside table, he strips before tossing his shirt and pants into the trash because they're covered in garbage residue.  He walks into the bathroom to wash the stench of a whole town's garbage off himself with the box in his hands, and then he places it on the counter in clear view of the shower, so he can keep an eye on it.

I try to not follow him into the other room but again have no luck, so I'm forced to watch as my sometime friend showers.  He smiles while he looks in the mirror and thinks, _'My brothers are both well-endowed like me, so it seems none of the Mikaelson's are a disgrace to all men everywhere, unlike poor Stefan Salvatore who according to Elijah is now finally dead.  I wish I could have watched Damon kill his brother.  Oh well, I'll just have to live with the knowledge that he killed his own brother and the loved ones of the woman he loves are haunting her until they break The Hunter's Curse.'_  

He pauses his thought to turn on the water and then goes back to his inner monologue, _'If I'm lucky, I will be able to finagle a front row seat to watch Elena kill herself once the curse is broken.  I'll allow Damon to live so that he will have to suffer for all of eternity with the knowledge that everyone he loves is dead because of_ his _inadequacies.'_

That decision made he opens the shower door after turning the water as hot as he can make it.  While he showers I studiously avoid looking at Elijah's naked body.  In the last week, I have seen far too many of mine and my granddaughter's friends in the nude.  I send up a prayer that I won't continue to bear witness to anyone one else sans their clothes.

While I'm trying my best not to peek Kol considers his other problem, _'There is a witch who not only knows I'm supposedly trapped inside that mirror, but she knows how to return me to it.  Plus, I want to pay her back for being kind enough to help Damon and Elena in the first place, so the first order of business once I take over Nik is to track down that Lucy witch.'_

I sigh at his thoughts.  I suppose it was too much to hope for to think he might leave Lucy alone despite her role in his becoming trapped.  I decide her best bet is for her end to be quick and painless, so I offer up a prayer, _'Please, God, make my cousin's impending death as fast as possible.'_

When the last of the suds slide down his body, and he can no longer smell the stench of garbage, Kol steps out of the shower and dries off.  Dressing quickly in his older brother's standard dress shirt, tie, dress slacks, and jacket he grabs the box and leaves Elijah's room.

Kol walks down the hall to his own bedroom before entering and closing the door.  Then opening the walk-in closet and walking to the back of it, the original lifts and moves the dresser to the side to avoid scratch marks telling anyone he has moved the furniture. 

Then he leans down and pops up the floorboards where Kol hid the daggers and White Oak Ash he stole from Niklaus.  He also added the White Oak Stake to the stash after he took it back from Jeremy's room before he left the boarding house the other day.  So now, the vampire adds the box with the broken mirror and his severed finger in it, and then he pops the floorboards back in place and lifts the dresser putting it back where it belongs.  Because Elijah is inside the closed box, not even he will know where Kol has hidden it when the older man returns to his body.  Kol leaves the walk-in closet confident that no one will ever find his stash of all the items that can harm him and his. 

Leaving his room, he walks down the stairs toward where he can hear Niklaus painting.

When Kol enters the room, the hybrid is facing away from his brother, but the older man says, "Kol, took your time.”

Kol grins and says, “I figured Elijah would appreciate coming to without being covered in garbage residue.”

Niklaus smiles back and says, “Probably right about that.  Are you going to borrow my body, Brother?”

Kol sighs and asks, “You really don’t mind?”

Niklaus walks to him and puts his hand on Kol’s borrowed shoulder and says, “I really don’t.  Elijah showed me all the ways I have wronged you, and when I thought you were dead once and for all, well there was a hole in my heart I’d rather not experience ever again.  So, if I need to give you use of my body until you can choose a better one then so be it.  It’s the least I owe you after all the times I daggered you.  I’m looking at this as rightful payback.  Always and forever, Kol.  I seemed to have forgotten that that includes all of my siblings and not just the ones who always agree with me.  When I thought I had lost you forever, well, I have now seen the error of my ways and will endeavor to uphold my vow to all of you and not just some when it’s convenient for me.”

Kol smiles, and it lights up his whole face at the knowledge that his siblings really do love him as much as they love each other.  He places his hand on top of Niklaus’ and says, “Thank you, Nik.  That’s all I ever wanted.”

Niklaus pulls Kol into a hug and whispers into his ear, “I really am sorry, and I really will try to do better.”

Kol returns the hug, and when they pull apart, Niklaus grins at him wolfishly and says, “You even have my permission to remind me how empty I felt when I thought I would never get to see you again if I lose my way again.”

Kol smirks, “I’m going to hold you to that and remind you of what you just said.”

Niklaus nods once and says, “Good, see that you do.  I’m counting on you to help keep me on track.”

Kol’s eyes widen at that, but he inclines his head so Niklaus turns and picks up some paper off his desk, “I made a list of those that might be suitable to take over and everything I can remember about that witch that put you back in the mirror.”

He hands the lists to Kol and says, “I caused you to miss out on over 400 years of history so I won’t get upset if it takes a few centuries for you to find the right person to overtake and whatever you do, see to our family’s revenge first.  Elena and Damon should not be allowed to get away with killing yet another of my siblings, even if you did figure out a way to avoid going to the Otherside.”

Kol’s borrowed eyes are wide open again, but he nods and says, “I’m going to remind you that you said that too.”

Niklaus just chuckles and then holds out his hand and says, “Whenever you’re ready, Brother.”

Kol grabs his hand and pulls him into another hug before whispering “Thank you brother, Always and forever.”

Niklaus whispers the vow back to his brother, and that's all he knows because Kol brushes his hand along his brother’s neck and jumps bodies. 

Elijah stumbles for a moment, so Kol reaches out his hand and helps steady his older brother.  The elder original smiles and asks Kol, "How long was I in the mirror?"

My body snatching former friend smiles back and tells him, "About an hour."

Elijah nods and moves to sit in a chair facing Kol before he says, "I assume your first order of business is tracking down the witch who helped trap you and removing her from the equation."

Kol nods and asks, "Yes, I know from when they trapped me in the mirror that her name is Lucy, but what else do we know about her?"

Elijah smiles and pats his pockets before asking, "Where is my phone?"

It was one of the items Kol took out of his pockets and left on the bedside table before throwing out the clothes he had on, so he tells his older brother, "Upstairs in your room."

Despite his penchant for always being polite Elijah speeds out of the room without uttering a word and then returns almost as fast.  Holding up his phone he tells Kol, "Her last name is Bennett.  She's Bonnie Bennett's cousin.  I thought ahead and just happen to have Ms. Bennett's phone number and address.  I thought it might prove useful to you."

Kol smiles widely and nods before he tells him, "I always knew you were instrumental in keeping Nik on track and gathering information for him, but I don't think I realized exactly how invaluable you are until just now.  Thank you, Brother."

Elijah smiles before asking, "How do you want to handle her.  She probably knows what you and Niklaus look like because she freed him and trapped you in the mirror," Kol nods so Elijah continues, "so a frontal assault won't work.  Additionally, if we go at her from the front, she's likely to just use her magick to stop us in our tracks."

Kol inclines his head and scratches his chin while he tries to come up with a plan when his brother clears his throat and says, "If I may…"

He nods, so Elijah continues, "It might work to do what you have already done.  Find someone she will never expect violence from and compel them to kill her."

Kol nods slowly and adds, "I could always possess them…"

His brother shakes his head, "I know Niklaus was honest and completely serious when he offered his body to you, but let me ask you this, would you willingly allow him to dagger you more than once?”

Kol doesn’t hesitate and says, “If it helped or protected one of you absolutely.”

Elijah smiles because he can see the truth shining in his brother’s eyes.  He nods and says, “Well, then perhaps Niklaus would be the same, either way, we should probably keep the number of times you free him to a minimum so as not to overextend his good will.  He won’t begrudge you taking the time you need, but I do fear that dangling freedom in front of him and then temporarily snatching it away again will strain your relationship more than it already is and I only wish for a united family again like we once were.  Plus, while exacting our revenge, you couldn't find a safer body to be inside of if you tried."

He's correct, and Kol knows it.  But he thinks, _'Still, I might track down an old witch friend and convince her to put me back in my body and resurrect me so we can all be together once more.'_

He nods and tells his brother, "You are, of course, correct, so we compel someone close to her and have _them_ kill her."

Elijah nods and then stands, "I'll go pack for a week in Baton Rouge, you might wish to do the same."

Kol stands and follows his older brother up the stairs.  He passes Elijah's room and enters Niklaus' room to collect enough clothes to _'hold me over until we can end this Bennett bitch and then maybe I can go shopping for new clothes in Nik's size.'_  

He sighs because he can already hear Elijah telling him, _'Only buy your own style of clothes if you plan for us to go where no one is familiar with Niklaus' style.'_  

Because Kol fully plans to stick around here _'long enough to watch Nik's former blood bag be tortured until the curse is broken and then kill herself, which if I'm lucky will take many years to take place, my best course of action is to maintain the illusion that I am Nik.'_

When he's done packing, Kol heads back downstairs to find Elijah waiting for him.  The older original smiles and asks, "If you don't mind, I'll drive?"

Kol nods, so we go out to the car and settle in for the more than 15-hour drive.

We stop about nine hours into the drive at a hotel and stay the night, and then first thing in the morning, after both originals have fed, we get back in the car and finish the trip.

When we arrive, tracking my cousin down is relatively easy.  They watch her for two days and nights before choosing to compel her boyfriend, Mike. 

The next day, Kol and I follow Mike to work and then wait.  When he's leaving the garage where he repairs cars, the vampire walks up to him and quickly catches his eye before telling him, "You will go see Lucy after you clean yourself up.  You will take her biggest kitchen knife and slit her throat before stabbing her as many times as you can.  You will not stop stabbing her until someone arrives and tells you to stop."

He nods and repeats Kol's words back to him.  While we follow the oblivious man home, I scratch my head that Lucy didn't bother to slip Vervain into Mike's food every day.  Kol calls his brother while Mike showers and tells the older original, "It's done, meet me at her house in about a half an hour."

We can both can hear the smile in Elijah's voice when he says, "I will see you soon, Brother."

When Mike, Kol, and I arrive at Lucy's house, Kol sees his older brother has beaten us there and is waiting down the street in his rental car, which he rented under an assumed name.

The younger original walks to the car and gets in while we wait for Lucy to answer her door.  Once she lets Mike in, the two vampires get out of the car and sneak into her backyard and watch through a window.

Lucy is entirely unaware of the danger she is currently in, so she leads her lover into the kitchen where she is busy cooking dinner and when he passes the wood block full of knives he grabs the biggest one and walks up behind her before slitting her throat.

She turns her wide, surprised eyes on him and tries to grab for the knife before he knocks her to the ground and bends down and begins stabbing her over and over.  She barely had a chance to scream so no one in the neighborhood has any idea what is happening while we stand and watch through the kitchen window until the two vampires hear her heartbeat stop, and then we leave.  When we walk away, Mike is still busy stabbing her, and I know he will continue until the cops arrive and tell him to stop.

To that end, once we return the rental and are back inside Elijah's car, Kol waits until we're on the highway out of town before calling 911 with a burner phone and using a local accent he tells the operator that he heard screaming coming from his neighbor's house and he gives Lucy's address.

He then hangs up, turns the phone off, takes the sim card out, and wipes his fingerprints off the body of the phone with his shirt before opening the window and tossing the phone onto the side of the road.  He smiles while he watches in the side mirror when it bounces and then rolls under the tire of the car behind us. 

He thinks, _'All is almost right in my world.  The only White Oak Stake, all but one of the White Oak Ash Daggers, most of the White Oak Ash, and the mirror used to trap me are all hidden where only I know their whereabouts and the person responsible for trying to trap me in the mirror is now dead.  I have no desire or plan to use the White Oak Ash Daggers on Elijah or Rebekah, so the only things left to do are to retrieve the final White Oak Ash Dagger and the jar of Ashes and hide them, and then dig up and hide my body.  Then we can sit back and watch the Elena and Damon show until they break the curse and Elena meets her fiery end.  Then we just need to figure out who I should possess permanently, but maybe before that, I'll see about finding a witch to melt down and destroy the daggers once and for all, but for now, I'm just looking forward to all the future holds for my siblings and me.  We should probably fill Rebekah in sooner rather than later, but I'll worry about that when we get back to Mystic Falls.'_  

For now, he closes his eyes and relives watching _'The Bennett Bitch's'_ last moments.


	7. He Still Can't Be Selfish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lauren, one of my Betas, says you need a hanky for this chapter, so grab a box of tissues before you read.

 

****

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Chapter 007**

**He Still Can't Be Selfish**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**November 20, 2155, 3:00 p.m.**

**The Basement Cell in The Salvatore Boarding House**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

It's been almost exactly 145 years since Elena killed Jeremy while Kol was possessing her body, triggering The Hunter's Curse.  That's 145 years of Damon watching the woman he loves suffer the torment of hallucinating the people closest to her telling her their deaths are all her fault.

Damon thinks, _'Did we make some bad decisions in the long run?  Maybe, but it can't all be placed at Elena's feet.'_  He meant it when he said everything that happened that week was a direct result of Katherine turning herself into a vampire and then running from Niklaus.  The hybrid never would have come to town if the older doppelgänger hadn't forced him to wait to free himself from the curse his mother placed on him.

Katherine has shown up a few times, but Damon just barely missed killing her twice, so she got the idea that he is unwilling to have anything to do with her and that if she tries to approach Elena or him again he will not hesitate to kill her and be done with her once and for all.  He's heard she hooked back up with Elijah who along with Niklaus had followed Damon and Elena to every town and city they've lived in for the last century and a half.

They aren't obnoxious about it, but Damon still finds it annoying that they're keeping an eye on the two of them.  He figures the originals were waiting to see how long it took for them to break The Hunter's Curse.  Damon managed to find a couple of potential Hunters through the years, but he usually found them right after they wound up dead without activating The Hunter's Mark.

He thought for a while that Niklaus might be responsible for their deaths, but he never found any proof to suggest the hybrid actually was behind their deaths, so Damon just kept searching. 

Two weeks ago, he hit pay-dirt and found a potential hunter before the teen died and compelled the boy to kill a baby vampire Damon made for just that purpose.  So now he's lifted The Hunter's Curse.

He smiles widely and thinks back to arriving back at the house afterward to find his girl smiling for the first time in a century and a half.  "They're gone, Damon.  The only person I see right now is you."

He smiled broadly and nodded deeply before he told his love, "I know, I found a potential hunter and arranged for him to kill a vampire.  I even held the vampire still to make sure there would be no chance of the vampire killing the newbie."

Elena grinned and told him, "I'm free.  Thank you."

He just nodded and opened his arms for her, which she happily ran into.  After one of the best hugs of his long life, Damon leaned down and kissed her, and it was glorious.  For the first time in 145 years, her kiss wasn't hesitant and scared, it was loving and inviting and just a touch rough.

Damon picked her up and carried his wife to their bedroom where he slowly stripped her of her clothes and then proceeded to kiss and lick every inch of her starting at her feet and slowly moving his way up until he reached the juncture of her thighs.  He ripped off her panties and then kissed her nether lips before parting them with his fingers and licking a long slow stroke the entire length of her slit.  Then he zeroed in on her clit and began licking and sucking on it.

I gave up trying to get away from other people having sex over a century ago.  So, despite the fact, I very much wanted not to have to see anyone having sex I knew that the still unknown force just wouldn't let me leave the room.  I tried once and then stopped trying because all it would end up doing was further aggravate me.

I looked up at the ceiling and pursed my lips together when Damon slipped two fingers inside his wife and pumped them before scissoring them a few times.  Because she was so tight when she became a vampire, she's still just as tight 145 years later, so he still had to prepare her.  He slowly added a third finger before softly biting on her clit, which sent her over the edge screaming his name, "Oh Damon!"

The sound of his name when she screamed it in ecstasy is now forever ingrained in both our minds.  I find it annoying, but Damon cherishes the memory.

He kissed, licked, and nibbled the rest of the way up her body before looking into her, no longer haunted, eyes and then he leaned down and kissed her while he took his length in his hand and guided it to her entrance.

He pushed in slowly while he enjoyed every inch of his wife's warmth and wetness until he finally bottomed out.  Elena wrapped her legs around his waist and told him, "Not slow this time, Damon, make it fast and hard.  We have forever left to go slow, right now I want it fast and furious."

He smiled and kissed her before pulling almost all the way out of her and then slamming back into her setting a pounding rhythm.  She came twice more while she scored her fingernails down his back, drawing blood each time before he finally fell over the precipice and came harder than he had in a really, really long time, like 145 years long.

Almost collapsing on top of her Damon just barely managed to roll to her side, so he was beside her and not on top of her.  Then he pulled her into his arms, kissed the top of her head, and let sleep take him before he dreamed about what the future held in store for them.

Turns out the future held more pain and heartache because Damon woke from his sleep when Elena got up and pulled on his shirt.  It was common in the last 145 years for her to leave the bed in the middle of the night because even her dreams weren't safe from the hallucinations of those she had loved and lost, so he just watched through slitted eyes while she padded through the room in the dark and headed out and down the stairs. 

Rolling over and looking at the clock he saw it was a few minutes before sunrise.  He rolled back over, but then he heard her open the French door leading out to the garden.  That was a new behavior, and for a good reason, he got a terrible feeling, so without stopping to throw on some clothes he ran down the stairs and out into the garden to find her standing there looking at the horizon as if she were waiting for something.  She turned to look at him and said, "I love you, Damon." And then the sun began to rise, and he realized what was happening. 

I don't think he'd ever moved as fast as he did that morning when he grabbed her and ran with her back into the house and down to the basement where he lay her down on the cot and then closed and locked the door of the cell.

Weary and dreading the answers Elena would give as to why she just tried to kill herself, he went back upstairs trying to close out the sound of his lover's tears and find her ring.  He discovered it a few bushes away from where she had been standing, so he brought it back inside and went to put some clothes on.  Then with a heavy heart and a bad feeling, he walked down the stairs and into the basement to find out what her reason was.

Looking at her for a minute laying there motionless Damon then asked, "Elena, why?  You're finally free, why would you try to kill yourself?"

She looked up and frowned, "I think I'm supposed to tell you it was because I'm so overcome with grief about Jeremy's death, but really I just felt I had to do it."

He sighed and thought, _'Dammit, it's like I thought.  Kol compelled her to kill herself.  The ass is probably the only reason she didn't try to off herself during the curse.  He wanted her to suffer and then only after she was free she would kill herself.'_

**______________________________________________________________________________**

Elena began trying to kill herself two weeks ago, and Damon sighs while he looks at the love of his undead life sleeping in the cell again.  Every time he lets her out she waits until dawn and then tries to kill herself.  Using the Sire Bond didn't work either, so he is so desperate that he goes and sees who he believes is Niklaus to see if the hybrid can compel her to disobey Kol's compulsion.  Damon's never heard of such a thing working before but as I said he's desperate.

Niklaus' blue eyes that Kol is still borrowing widen when he opens the door and finds Damon on the other side, but he motions the younger vampire inside with a smirk on his face.  Although they had been following Damon and Elena, this is the first time in almost two decades that they're in the same room with each other.

Kol's smirk grows before he asks, "To what do I owe this unexpected surprise, Damon?"

He decided on the way over here not to mince words or pussyfoot around the heart of the matter, so he just tells the original, "I think Kol compelled Elena to kill herself once The Hunter's Curse was lifted.  Every morning for the last two weeks she's tried to kill herself.  I'm hoping you can compel her to ignore or disobey Kol's compulsion."

Kol smiles but shakes his head and lies through his teeth, "Even if that would work, which I'm fairly certain it wouldn't, tell me why I should help save the girl responsible for the deaths of not one but two of my brothers.  What's in it for me?"

Damon doesn't have much to offer the immortal hybrid, but he tried like hell all day to come up with a reason, so he tells the older man the only thing he managed to come up with, "Kol wanted her dead and Kol killed Caroline, consider this your last chance to get one up on your brother."

Inside Kol is laughing because he realizes just how desperate Damon must be if that's the response he gives.  On the outside, however, Kol frowns and says, "It's only my last chance because the Gilberts set a trap for my baby brother and then actively sought to end him, a feat they actually managed to pull off.  Furthermore, if Elena hadn't sought to end my admittedly annoying younger brother, Caroline would still be alive.  I'm sorry, Mate, but I'm not inclined to help the woman who helped murder Finn and Kol in cold blood and indirectly caused the death of the only woman I've loved in over a millennium."

I frown because my former friend has gotten just a touch too good at playing his role as his brother in the last century and a half, which only got better when the Mikaelson’s found a spell to allow Kol and Niklaus to share the same body so that now Niklaus can advise Kol just as Elijah does.  Kol’s still in control of the body but Niklaus is with him, and they can converse in their head.

That said, Damon is utterly clueless that he's standing mere feet from the man that compelled his wife to kill herself.

Just then Elijah comes into the room and nods, "I'm afraid I must agree with my brother Damon, as fond as I was of Ms. Gilbert, she, how does the saying go?  She made her bed, and now she must lay in it.  This situation is of her own creation, and we've spent 144 years without our two brothers by our sides.  So far as I'm concerned, she's lucky she got to spend that long with you.  If Kol had survived, she likely wouldn't have lasted another week after she tried to kill him."

Kol just nods with a satisfied smirk on his face that Damon absentmindedly finds strange, so the younger vampire leaves with no hope of saving the woman he loves unless he keeps her locked up during the daylight hours for the rest of eternity.

In Damon's opinion his love should be free, though, and now he's faced with the hardest decision of his 313 years on this earth: Keep the woman he loves more than life itself locked up like a prisoner for the rest of eternity or set her free.  The selfish part of him wants to keep her locked up, but while he looks through the window of the cell she's currently locked inside of, he knows he still, even after all these years, can't be selfish with her, so he leaves her there to go prepare.

He goes to the store and buys all his wife's favorite foods and then heads back to the house and cooks everything just the way she likes them.  Then he sets the table and lights some candles just before the sun sets.  When everything is ready, he goes down to the cell and wakes his love up, "Elena, time to get up, Mia Tesoro."

The younger vampire rolls over and looks at her savior with such sadness in her eyes, and he knows he's made the right choice.  The woman he loves deserves to be free once and for all.  She's suffered too much in her life.

He flips the lock and opens the door before telling her, "I made you dinner."

She smiles slightly and gets up before taking his outstretched hand.  Leaning down he kisses her tenderly before leading her out of the basement for a final time and up to the dining room.

She gasps when she sees all her favorite foods, and if she realizes that this is his way of saying goodbye she doesn't comment on it.  He's grateful for that small fact.

Damon helps Elena sit and then starts filling her plate with Fettuccine Alfredo, roasted vegetables, and string-beans with roasted almonds.  For dessert, he has homemade gelato in her favorite flavor, blood orange.

They say little while they eat, and Damon is so sick with what he's about to do that he can barely keep the food down.

She 'Oh's' and 'Ah's' over the blood orange gelato, and when she finishes her last bite she smiles at him, and he burns the smile into his memory before she says, "Thank you that was awesome, Damon."

He just nods and then takes her hand and leads her up the stairs to their room.  He slowly removes her clothes one article at a time, taking the time to kiss each inch of newly exposed skin, before laying her on the bed and quickly stripping his own clothes.  The time weary man spends an hour just kissing and licking every inch of her he can touch before she begs, "Please, Damon, no more teasing," so he brings his mouth to the juncture of her thighs and unceremoniously sucks her clit into his mouth. 

I look away with tears in my eyes while he sucks and flicks her nub with his tongue.  After a few minutes of doing that he uses his fingers to prepare her one final time.  He makes her cum twice before he deems her ready, and then he kisses his way up her body and leans down and kisses her senseless before he enters her slower than he ever has.  For once she doesn't complain about his going too slow, and she seems to just be enjoying their closeness as much as he is.

Damon slowly begins pumping in and out of his wife while his hands roam over every inch they can reach, only stopping to toy with a nipple and pinch it lightly.  He leans down and sucks it into his mouth and flicks his tongue over the tight peak several times before switching breasts.  When he slowly begins to increase his pace, he pulls away from her chest and just watches her face while he causes her to shatter into a million pieces.

He follows his lover over the edge and tells her, "God I love you more than I've ever loved anyone before.  You're my life, Elena."

She has tears in her eyes before she tells him, "I love you more than I've ever loved anyone else too, even more than I loved Stefan and Matt combined."

Strangely her words heal an old wound he didn't even realize was still there, so after he leans down and kisses her, he rolls to the side and pulls her into his arms.

He couldn't sleep right now if his life depended on it, so he just lays there with his eyes closed trying to memorize how she feels in his arms.  A few minutes later she sighs and falls asleep.

Damon just holds his love for a few hours while tears pour from his eyes.  Finally, he knows if he waits any longer she'll wake up, so he reaches over to the drawer of the bedside table and takes out the stake he put there earlier.  Gently rolling her onto her back, he then leans down and kisses her one final time before closing his eyes and plunging the stake into her chest.

He's never cried like he's crying right now while he feels her body turn leathery under his.  Finally, about ten minutes before sunrise he gets up without opening his eyes and covers her with the sheet, so he can't see her desiccated form lying in their bed.

He looks down at his hand at the ring that has rarely left his finger in 290 years and slowly takes it off before placing it on the bedside table.  Then with tears streaming down my face, I follow him down the stairs.  He's still naked and smelling of Elena while he walks to the French Door and opens it walking into the garden to wait for the sun to rise. 

He turns a moment before the sun rises to see Niklaus standing in the shadows.  When the original notices that Damon has seen him, the ancient man takes a step closer, and the younger man's eyes widen in understanding when Kol says, "Hello, Darling.  Seems you've ruined my well-laid plans, but watching you burn will suffice."

Damon doesn't get a chance to reply to Kol's words because the sun slowly reaches and breaches the horizon.  Damon manages to whisper, "Elena, I love you," and then searing pain rips through his body until a vast nothing takes over.


	8. Did That Really Just Happen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first few lines of dialog are directly from the show. I do NOT claim ownership of those lines. Also, pay attention to the date at the beginning of this chapter or you'll be really confused.

 

****

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Chapter 008**

**Did That Really Just Happen?**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**Thursday, December 02, 2010, just before 9:00 p.m.**

**Bonnie's Living Room**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

My granddaughter startles herself awake at the end of the scariest dream she's ever had with Damon's whispered, 'Elena, I love you,' ringing in both of our ears.  My baby girl smartly thinks, _'Oh God, Elena really plans to kill Kol, and I'm not just some normal teen having a bad dream.  I'm a witch, and I'm not willing to bet the lives of everyone I care about that that was nothing more than a horrible nightmare.'_

To Bonnie's right, her father asks her mother, "You're drugging her?"

The frown in my daughter's voice is evident when she says, "Just enough to keep her down until I can get some witches here to clean her mind from that poison that professor's been teaching her."

Bonnie thinks, _'Yeah and if that happens my friends and I are all doomed,'_ so she sits up and tells her until recently absentee mother, "That's not happening."

Abby turns to face her daughter, and at the teen's bared teeth and heavy breathing she says, "Bonnie, please."

My grandbaby holds out her hand and uses her magick on her mother causing my daughter to gasp in pain before the mortar breaks.  Bonnie hates to do this, but she has to get to her friends before it's too late, so she breaks her mother's bones.  Ignoring Abby's screams when she falls to the floor Bonnie stands up. 

Rudy puts his arms around his ex-wife while their daughter tells them both, "Sorry, but lives are counting on me.  We can clean my mind later tonight, so call your witch friends, and I promise I'll be back after I stop my friends from killing everyone that I've ever cared about."

Then she turns and leaves her shocked parents behind when she slams the door in haste not anger and runs to her car.  She speeds all the way to the Gilbert's house.  Pulling up to the curb the same time Niklaus arrives in front of the house, she doesn't hesitate before she jumps out of the car and rushes for the door freezing everyone in the house and outside of it too because the hybrid speeds up to the home ahead of her. 

When she reaches the door just after Niklaus, Elena is frozen just before she would have pulled the original's arm causing Kol to accidentally cut the strap holding Jeremy's arm to the counter, which would allow the teen to free himself.

My grandbaby stands there gasping for air for a minute trying to figure out what to do.  She thinks, _'If I try to reason with everyone there's no guaranteeing Kol won't come back and try to cut off Jer's arm again, and there's also no guarantee that my friends will stop trying to kill the original.  We've all become obsessed with The Cure, and all it'll bring is pain and death upon us all.'_   She nods at herself before she walks into the house and walks up to Kol and Elena.  Bonnie frowns at the young woman she's considered the sister of her heart for most of her life.

I'm biting my lip, gnawing of the little bit of flesh before offering up a small prayer, "Please, Jesus, please give my granddaughter the knowledge and wisdom she needs and allow all of them to walk away from this unscathed."

Bonnie is thinking the same prayer before brushing her hand along Elena's cheek and telling her best friend, "You and Jeremy are probably going to hate me for the rest of my life.  I'd rather you hate me, though, than for my premonition to come true because then all of us except Klaus will be dead and even he wouldn't know peace because Kol would possess his body and cause all sorts of trouble.  So, I need you and Jer to trust me."

Turning to Kol, Bonnie asks him, "You swear you'll heal him after you chop off his arm?"

My eyes widen at that before she unfreezes his head.  He turns to look at her a minute with his brow raised then he says, "Both arms actually, but yes I give my word I will heal him, the last thing I need is for him to bleed to death and saddle me with The Bloody Hunter's Curse." 

I smile brightly because this man here, this ancient vampire, is the man I was friends with which is abundantly clear when he thinks, _'Okay maybe I just don't want him to die but no need to tell everyone here that I still consider Jeremy my friend.  Letting them know would only make my family and me more vulnerable to Elena's machinations because I doubt the bitch is above using my feelings for her brother to her advantage.'_

Unaware of Kol's peaceful, though disparaging, thoughts Bonnie takes a deep breath and then exhales, then she takes another and slowly exhales again before nodding her head and telling her ex-boyfriend, "I'm sorry Jer, any other way and everyone, including Caroline, Tyler, and Matt but not Kol who would be inside Klaus will be dead.  Only Elena's death would be anything even close to peaceful and after suffering from The Hunter's Curse for 144 years that sort of nullifies the peacefulness of her death."

Jeremy's eyes widen but then soften when he comes to believe my baby girl.  He realizes that she would never allow anything bad to happen to him unless there was no other way.  He understands how Bonnie works enough to know that she's telling the truth, so when she sees his acceptance in his eyes, she nods and says, "I'll do everything I can to help afterward, but it needs to happen."  

Unfreezing his head, she half frowns, half smiles slightly when he nods and says, "Do it, if it'll save everyone else then do it."

Leaning down and kissing his forehead before stepping back she unfreezes Kol after she tells him, "Make it as painless as possible."

Kol looks at her for another minute then he leans over Jeremy and asks, "Mate, I'm not sure if it'll work or not because you're a hunter, but are you willing for me to try compelling you not to feel any pain?"

Jeremy nods and despite his frown and trembling lip says, "Since I became a hunter I stopped drinking Vervain so try.  If it doesn't work, at least you will have tried."

Kol nods and looks into his former friend's eyes a minute before he catches Jeremy's eyes and says, "You will not feel any pain or discomfort until after you have finished healing."

Bonnie and I both let out a sigh of relief when Jeremy repeats, "I will not feel any pain or discomfort until after I finish healing."

Kol nods and then takes a step back and aims before in one fell swoop he chops off the boy's right arm.  Jeremy only gasps but doesn't appear to be in any pain.  Kol quickly moves to the left arm and has that chopped off just as swiftly and painlessly.

After he finishes he pockets the cleaver while my granddaughter looks at him funny, so he says, "Call me insane, but I don't much trust any of you not to use it on me after the fact."

He makes a fair point based on their prior history with him and his family, so my baby girl just nods.  He nods back, and then he bites his wrist and brings it to Jeremy's mouth.  Smiling encouragingly, he tells the young man, "Mate, I think I'm going to need to feed you a couple of times, so drink until my wound heals, and then I'll bite again until you look as good as you can."

Jeremy nods while he drinks Kol's blood.  Bonnie feels her control over everyone's movements starting to slip, so because he's trapped outside she lets go of Niklaus, and he stumbles into the invisible barrier before saying, "What game are you playing, witch?"

While my baby girl lets go of her control of Jeremy's body, she turns just enough to see the hybrid out of the corner of her eye but still have her eyes on Kol, who in her mind is still a genuine threat right now. 

My precious grandbaby frowns before she tells Niklaus, "It's just what I said it is… Kol would die but somehow get trapped in the hallway mirror.  Then he would possess you, kill Caroline, and then possess Stefan.  He'll kill people while inside Stefan and then possess Elena to kill Jeremy, killing him and cursing her.  He would compel Tyler to kill Matt, and he would also compel Damon to kill Tyler _and_ Stefan leaving only Damon and Elena to suffer from their guilt.  After 144 years of living with The Hunter's Curse, which is possible only because Kol compels Elena not to kill herself until _after_ the curse is lifted, it gets lifted.  But then Elena keeps trying to kill herself, so Damon puts her out of her misery in as painless a way as possible by staking her in her sleep and then _he_ meets the sun.  That leaves Kol inside you with your permission and Elijah and Rebekah by his side as the only ones left alive at the end of it all.  This will hopefully keep all of us alive and in our rightful bodies."

The hybrid seems to believe her, so he nods once and says, "Fair enough, witch.  Don't expect me to thank you for saving me from being possessed."

My grandbaby laughs and tells the slightly frowning Niklaus, "Of course, I'd never expect you to thank anyone for ever doing anything nice to help you, besides you're not the reason I'm doing it.  If you saw the pain on Damon's face when he drove the stake into Elena's chest, well _you'd_ probably laugh in glee, but it was enough to make me respect him and know that he loves my best friend more than he's ever loved anyone else.  I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to set her free from her pain and suffering."

While she's been talking with Niklaus, Kol has bitten his wrist twice more and fed Jeremy until the wounds heal over entirely without even the pinkness a usual new scar has.

When Kol pulls away one final time he tells my granddaughter, "I'll be expecting you to ensure that he doesn't die with my blood inside him because if he turns into a vampire, he won't be a hunter anymore and I _will_ kill him."

Like I said earlier this creature is still the man I call a friend, so I know even without hearing his thoughts that he's bluffing because he's actually fond of his former friend and wouldn't kill him unless he was a threat _and_ there were no other options available to him.  Still, Bonnie doesn't know that, so she just nods and watches while Kol stands straight and looks at Jeremy before saying, "No hard feelings, Mate.  I'll forget you conspired to kill me, and you forget that I cut off your arms, deal?"

Surprisingly Jeremy laughs and says, "Yeah deal, though it's a little late.  What would you have done, if I said no deal?"

The ancient man smirks and says, "I'd have waited to catch your sister alone one day and then compelled her to kill you for me, but if you give your word, you and yours won't seek retribution then I will give the same, and we can all peacefully coexist."

Jeremy sighs and says, "You have a deal on my end, but it's going to take a little work on mine and Bonnie's part to get my sister on board, so if you could avoid her for a while that would probably keep us from having to go back on our words."

Kol nods once and then says, "I'll meet Bonnie at the boarding house tomorrow morning at 8 am to undo the compulsion on Damon because I gave my word I'll peacefully coexist and allowing him to kill you due to my compulsion would go against the promises we just made each other.  However, I agree that your sister and I should avoid each other for the time being so, Little Witch, skip school for a few hours, and I'll keep my word."

My granddaughter nods and tells him, "I'll be there."

He nods back and then turns and walks across the room, "Well it's been fun, Mate.  See you around." 

He walks out the door and right past his stunned brother who turns to look at my baby girl after watching Kol walk down the path and asks her, "Did that really just happen?  Did you really just negotiate a peaceful solution with my family's 'Happy Homicidal Maniac'?"

Bonnie laughs and nods before telling him, "Yeah it happened, now, if you could not be here, I have to help Jer talk some sense into Elena, and it will go easier if there are no originals present when we try to do that."

The hybrid grins and says, "Sure, tell Caroline I said hello."

Bonnie knows from her premonition that Niklaus' feelings for Caroline are genuine and very real, so although she frowns, she refrains from commenting with a snide remark before he walks away. 

Turning, Bonnie helps Jeremy sit up, and then they both look at Elena, who even frozen, is obviously incredibly pissed off.  Somehow her nostrils are flaring despite being frozen, and if looks could kill, my granddaughter would be dead right now. 

Bonnie pats her best friend on the shoulder and tells her, "I was serious Elena, everyone you love and care about would have died if Jer kills Kol.  It would take 144 years, but you and Damon would both follow us all into death but not until after you've both suffered worse than anyone should ever have to.  I mean Damon pulled his own brother's heart out of his chest, and then 144 years later he staked the woman he loved so that you wouldn't feel the pain of burning up in the sunlight.  If you care about no one else, remember Jer would die staring into your eyes while you strangled him, and Damon would do the most selfless thing I've ever witnessed and killed you to save you from unnecessarily feeling pain while you killed yourself.  No matter how much I may have hated the sarcastic ass in the past, he doesn't deserve to suffer like that, and neither does Jer."

Elena's nostrils aren't flaring anymore, so Bonnie unfreezes her friend's head and waits to see what she'll say.  We don't have to wait long before she asks with a smidgen of attitude in her voice, "How do you know it wasn't just a bad dream?"

Bonnie sighs and tells Elena, "Maybe because I dreamed the whole scene I walked into including you about to pull Kol's arm to the side.  Everything leading up to my freezing everyone was exactly like it was in my 'dream,' so I'm sure it wasn't a dream at all."

Jeremy turns towards his sister awkwardly and says, "It was my choice Elena, don't be angry with her, she just gave us all the opportunity to make informed decisions."  He turns to look at Bonnie and with a soft smile on his face despite his lack of arms says, "Thanks for that, Bon.  Now can someone help me off this counter, so I don't fall flat on my face?"

Despite the seriousness of the situation Bonnie laughs and helps him stand.  He turns and looks at his sister before he says, "I need your word as my sister, 'Lena, that you won't go after Kol or Bonnie.  I gave my word, and I'll find a way to kill you myself if you make me break it."

Elena's eyes widen at that, but she nods and then says, "I give my word, I won't go after Kol or Bonnie."

Despite being the youngest person involved in this whole mess Jeremy is smart, and he obviously knows his sister well, so he throws in, "Or any other original either.  The Mikaelson's are now officially and permanently off limits."

I've always thought that Elena was one of the biggest, most selfish brats I've ever had the misfortune to meet.  Being able to hear her thoughts since I died has only strengthened that belief, so I roll my eyes when she sighs but nods and says, "Okay, I give my word that the Mikaelson's are officially off limits." 

In her thoughts she's bitching, _'I'm a vampire, thanks to Rebekah, and Jer is mortal, so is Bonnie for that matter, so I just have to wait until they both die and then I can go rid the world of the whole Mikaelson family once and for all.  If I'm lucky I can talk them out of forcing me to wait and I can get them to help me find the cure.  Knowing the Mikaelson's, they'll probably break the truce first so that should give me the in I need to get Jer and Bonnie to change their minds.'_

Okay clearly, she hasn't really been paying attention to the Mikaelson's actions or their motivations for those actions, so she really believes that they're likely to break the truce first and quickly at that.  I know them well enough from my time on The Otherside with most of them to know that not a single Mikaelson, not even Niklaus, will risk angering Kol by forcing him to break his word. 

Oh, if Elena and company break the truce first nothing will protect them from the Mikaelsons' wraths, but none of them will break the truce first.  They clearly remember what one of Kol's temper tantrums looks like and just how many died last time, not to mention the incredible guilt and deep and long-lasting depression Kol fell into after he came back to himself and calmed down. 

None of the Mikaelson's would willingly force their brother to suffer through something like that again.  They're also likely to realize the truth of Bonnie's words tonight, and so they will be grateful that Kol is still with them and unwilling to do anything to put him or any of their other siblings at risk. 

They might bicker and fight like little homicidal children on occasion, but no one can say with any accuracy that every single Mikaelson doesn't love their siblings more than they love him or herself.

Now, Jeremy, he has some clue from conversations he had with Kol about his siblings the lengths they would go to protect each other, even from themselves.  He might not have known Kol was a vampire at the time or that the siblings Kol was speaking of were Niklaus and the others, but Jeremy could easily see in Kol's eyes and hear in the soft tone his voice took on when he spoke of them just how much Kol loves his family. 

He also knows that most siblings feel that way.  So, even while he can guess where his own sister's thoughts are, he knows that he will do everything in his power to help Bonnie keep the peace for as long as possible because he knows that the moment someone on his side breaks the truce everyone he loves will die by Mikaelson hands.

After staring at his sister and making sure that she understands what's at stake or at least doesn't plan to make him break his word, he turns to look at my granddaughter and says, "You can let her go, Bon."

She nods, releases her friend, and watches as Elena lunges at her brother and tries her best to squish him in a hug.  He laughs and says, "Uh, a little too tight 'Lena."

She chuckles and loosens her hold before Bonnie turns and walks out the door.  Neither of them tries to stop her, but she's surprised when she gets outside and finds Kol leaning against her car.

The original smiles and says, "It takes a lot to impress me, Darling, but you may have actually managed the feat."  At her frown he says, "Don't worry I know you didn't save me to save _me_ , but I don't often find myself owing my life to other people, so just know I won't forget and if you have need of a favor just call, but only once so make it count." 

Kol hands Bonnie a slip of paper and then smirks before saying, "I have a great and deep appreciation and respect for witches.  I've called many of them my friends and even loved a few, and well, I don't know if you know this, but I was a witch before my mother turned us.  My siblings were as well."

He shifts his weight on his feet and says, "Even though we lost our magick when we transitioned, I spent the next thousand or so years learning everything I could about magick.  So, if you want help getting your natural powers back and clearing your aura of that black shit the professor has filled your head with and maybe even learn some new non-dark spells, I won't count that as the favor."

He smiles a warm smile that she's never seen on his face before and then says, "If you're genuinely nice to me, I might even give you access to my extensive grimoire collection." 

My grandbaby wonders, _'Is he serious?  He wants to help me?  Me?  The girl who broke his bones and gave him aneurysms earlier tonight?  What game is he playing at?'_   Her eyes are wide, but she says nothing, so he adds, "Yes, Darling, I'm serious, and no it's not some attempt at tricking you.  I gave my word to peacefully coexist, and one thing you should know about my family by now is that if we give our word, we usually keep it, and the only exception to that rule is when to break our word will save a member of our family.  So, if you and your merry band keep to our agreement, my family will be safe, and my siblings and I will have absolutely no reason to break my word.  I also won't allow anyone else in my family to break my word first, so we officially have a truce."

Kol shrugs and tells her, "You wouldn't be the first witch I've helped either because I don't do well with just sitting around.  I need to keep active and helping a young witch learn her craft properly has always sufficiently filled that need for activity.  Think about it, Darling, and call me if you want my help." 

He pauses again then says, "Oh and I was serious about meeting you at the boarding house tomorrow to lift the compulsion.  8 a.m. sharp, but a word of advice when it comes to dealing with me, I get bored easily, and then I get into all sorts of mischief, so make me wait at your own peril."

She nods so he grins and says, "Well, until then, Darling," and he walks off towards his house.

I don't know how long she stands out there just staring at the spot Kol had been, but eventually, she moves and takes out her phone putting his phone number and email address into it before getting into her car and heading to the jail. 

If she thought it would work, she'd already call in that favor and have Kol compel Atticus to stop trying to raise Silas, but she knows my younger former friend picked up a few tricks in Tibet so compulsion won't work on him.  Therefore, she resigns herself to having to kill him herself.  It's, unfortunately, the only way to keep the balance even and everyone else alive, so although I regret the guilt she will feel after doing this, I know it's necessary to save everyone on both sides of The Veil.

When we arrive at the jail, she doesn't get out of the car.  She psychically searches the building for Atticus' soul signature, for lack of a better phrase, and then latches onto it and squeezes until she feels his life slip away.  Then after pausing and having a moment of silence in his memory, she heads home to mend things with her parents.

While Bonnie drives she thinks, _'God, what a day!   Thank goodness it's finally over and everyone I care about is still alive, or undead as the case may be.  Let's hope Kol and his family keeps his word and we all continue to stay that way.'_

**______________________________________________________________________________**

**The End**

**(Until the Sequel)**

**______________________________________________________________________________**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there you have it, what did you think?  I have written a sequel (Picking Up Shattered Glass) and have a third story (Repairing Shattered Glass) outlined and partially written, which will make this a trilogy (The Shattered Glass Trilogy).  Picking Up Shattered Glass is primarily Kol/Bonnie centric but also has some Klaus/Caroline and Rebekah/Jeremy inferences thrown in for good measure with an exceptionally light sprinkling of Damon/Elena... if you're interested in reading it, keep your eyes open for it soon.  I hope to begin posting Picking Up Shattered Glass sometime in the fall of 2018 (the first 13 of 24 chapters have already been approved by my betas so it shouldn't be too long.)


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